febfast registration free for an alcohol free February

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For the fourth year running, New Zealanders are being challenged to give up alcohol for the month of February to raise money and support young people and their families with alcohol and other drug problems.

“This year registering for febfast is free, which makes it a good chance and an easy excuse to press pause on alcohol after the busy summer celebration season,” said febfast Coordinator Natalia Albert.

“Giving your body a break gives you a chance to reassess your relationship with alcohol after a season traditionally booze-soaked.

“The first thing febfasters notice when taking up this challenge is the benefits it has on their health and their wallets.

“This year we’ve made it even easier for people to sign up to febfast and enjoy an alcohol free February by dropping the registration fee to zero. This means anyone can get involved and start fundraising to help young New Zealanders and their families who are experiencing problems with alcohol and other drugs.”

The funds raised by febfast in 2014 will provide tools and resources to help parents understand and respond to the challenges of alcohol and drug use in their families.

“Many parents struggle to know how to best communicate with their children and teenagers around alcohol and drug use – your fundraising will help provide much needed assistance,” said Mrs Albert.

“Your participation in fundraising for febfast is an important commitment to the prevention of, and response to, alcohol and drug addiction in New Zealand.”

This year community leaders who have a positive influence on the people around them with be joining febfast as febfast friends.

“Febfast friends are people or groups who are supporting febfast by spreading the word about the benefits of laying off alcohol for a while and taking time to reflect on how much you’re drinking.

“They’ll be enrolling teams, energising people and providing prizes for our top fundraisers, like free hot yoga classes, Zumba classes, Revolve Cycling yearly memberships and other fun stuff.

Febfast 2014 will be launch with a Dance Party at Frank Kitts Park, Wellington, at 12 midday on 1 February.

“It will be a free dance session for everybody that will be participating in febfast and for anybody that wants to join the fun.

“For one hour we will be moving our bodies to celebrate 28 days of doing something for other people and helping build awareness and raise funds to help young people and their family’s combat alcohol and other drug problems.”

febfast facts

2014 will be the fourth year the Drug Foundation has run febfast in New Zealand.
In the three years to day, febfast has raised over $260,000 to help different NZ alcohol prevention organizations, and also to help family’s better cope with substance abuse in their families.
In 2013 the money raised from febfast was targeted to the Drug Foundations Get the Msg! (Get the Message) campaign. Currently Get the Msg! is a free drug information service via text messaging. It provides people with credible and factual health and safety information about drugs in a discreet way, wherever they are at any time of day.
Since starting over 2000 people have participated
In 2013 we increased our social media presence and got people to donate more money than they were in past years.
The money raised in 2012 went towards supporting youth alcohol and other drug services across New Zealand.
The money raised in 2014 will go towards redeveloping the Get the MSG! text information service. More info on Get the MSG is here http://nzdrug.org/febfastfunds