MADD seeks North Idaho volunteers

One of the nation's largest nonprofit organizations, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is in need of volunteers in North Idaho since only one person has been working for them this past year.

Carolyn Mattoon was hired by MADD last year to help out the five counties of North Idaho.

"In order to expand and fully offer all the services that MADD provides we need to have volunteers," Mattoon said.

MADD has had a presence in Idaho since the mid '80s with the central office in Boise. More than a year ago after statistics showed the North Idaho region was second in all of Idaho behind the Boise Metropolitan area in DUI crashes, MADD decided to set up a branch in North Idaho. The Boise Metropolitan area, which has a much higher population than the five counties in North Idaho had only 28 more DUI crashes.

The five counties in North Idaho, designated as Region 1, had a total of 306 DUI crashes, 7 resulted in a death and 232 of them involved one or more injuries. Region 1 and the Boise Metropolitan area account for 40 percent of all DUI crashes in Idaho.

Mattoon said with more volunteers they will be able to perform services such as going to schools and events teaching the importance of not drinking and driving and what the consequences are if you do decide to do that.

Mattoon and MADD are looking for volunteers to perform these services and also helping out victims of drunk driving. Mattoon hopes with enough volunteers she can set up a committee to develop and recruit/train volunteers to provide bereavement support, talk to victims and court accompaniment.

"Those who have been survivors of drunk driving activities and looking for a positive way to help others who have been through the same things would make great volunteers," Mattoon said.

Mattoon said the volunteers wouldn't need to commit that much time or hours to MADD, and any short-term assistance would be great.

"Going through an event such as a crash where a drunk driver is involved can have lifelong consequences that are physical, mental, and emotional," Mattoon said. "We want to help the victims and help offenders aware of the consequences that drunk driving has."

Mattoon hopes that once there are enough volunteers they can set up support groups, and victim impact panels, where first-time DUI offenders can see how drunk driving crashes have affected people and hear their stories.