Organization to mark 20th anniversary

STAFF REPORT

VIENNA — Teen Straight Talk, a volunteer nonprofit Christian organization created to teach character-education to young people, will mark its 20th anniversary with a dinner Saturday at Squaw Creek Country Club, 761 Youngstown-Kingsville Road S.E.

The program advocates total abstinence from sexual activity until after marriage.

It was founded in 1989 by Mary Duke, a former teacher at Warren G. Harding High School, and has taken its abstinence message into dozens of area schools.

Duke has estimated that, based on program evaluations collected from participants, up to 90 percent of the students who hear a Teen Straight Talk program commit to staying abstinent until marriage.

The dinner will be a celebration of the organization’s two decades of service to the community, Duke said.

The event will run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and are available by e-mail at SexualAbstinence@aol.com or calling the Teen Straight Talk office at (330) 539-6040. Tickets also will be available at the door.