To learn more about Bob and the SCAR program visit the "About Us" Page. To see the impact that Bob has had on students, school staff members and parents visit the "Letters Page". You can read some excerpts from the hundreds of letters he receives each year from them after they have seen him speak. Below are a couple from parents of students who died as a result of DUI.
Letters
MISSION STATEMENT
Helping students make healthier choices in their lives since 1987 Thank you for all your support Bob Lapete
Dear Bob,
I want to express profound gratitude for your chosen mission of sharing your life experience and substance abuse message with teenagers.
When the halls are silent as students emerge from your presentation. When they stand wordlessly in twos and threes, some with tears in their eyes. When, in the small groups that meet frequently afterward, students eagerly ask questions and listen in rapt attention to the answers, I know they have been deeply touched.
This is not about signs and symptoms. Kids know much about that. It is about a vulnerable human being speaking his truth simply and authentically, with humor, poetry and music, things kids relate to at a gut level. I believe in that moment of decision whether to drink and drive, yours is the kind of message that gives young people pause to value their own life and the lives of their friends.
I am honored you have chosen to use the last picture ever taken of Julie for emphasis in your moving and up-beat presentation. My daughter’s sweet seventeen year old face, in the red sweater leaning against a tree, is the face of those who have yet to make this life-changing choice.
Sincerely,
Jane E. Card
Mrs. Gaulin's daughter, Michelle, died on August 17, 1999, two years after she sustained Traumatic Head Injury in a drunk driving accident. the photo was taken at her junior prom.
Dear Bob,
My hope is that Bob's sharing of my daughter's story will hopefully save a life. The hurt of her death will never leave me, but what Bob is doing helps with my sense of loss. I also know Michelle would want you to know her story too.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gaulin
We have also included some helpful information on Alcohol, Inhalants, and Hallucinogens on the Substances Page. What they are and how they affect the body.
Poetry became a personal form of therapy for Bob following his accident. In 1997 he began writing a new poem for each school he visited and reading it to the students during his presentation.
“He limps off the stage in the lecture hall where the kids are gathered on the floor in front of him. His awkward gate is just another reminder of that night....” The Conway Daily Sun