More than 150 moms, dads and kids got together Monday evening for some fun lessons in togetherness and problem solving, thanks to an Oak Harbor coalition aimed at making the community drug-free.

The message: Families that hang out together are healthier.

Oak Harbor Prevention Coalition, a group led by Jen Glyzinski, student assistance program coordinator with Oak Harbor School District, sponsored Family Night Out at Oak Harbor Middle School. Students at the school, and their parents and siblings, were invited to a dinner of free pizza and soda, followed by group and family activities aimed at problem solving.

“We’re just trying to bring families together for a fun activity,” Glyzinski said.

Washington State University Cooperative Extension, in its Challenge Program, started Family Night Out events, said Ben Gilmore, the 4-H Challenge Program coordinator, who was at the school to help Glyzinski ensure the event’s success. The state health department uses the Challenge Program as one tool in its substance abuse prevention programs for youth.

“This is the first year we’ve been able to implement it,” Glyzinski said.

Having dinner together as a family would be a positive influence by itself in a child’s day. It is a time when families can communicate and enjoy one another’s company, Gilmore said. Family Night Out takes a step further and gets families working on problems together in a fun way.

“The idea is to problem-solve,” said Glyzinski. At first the entire group was brought together in the gymnasium for an activity involving a 150-foot rope. Then, the whole group was divided into smaller groups for another joint activity. Later, individual families were challenged to build a two-foot tower using nothing but newspapers and masking tape. All activities provided the message that challenges are easier to handle when people work together.

Funding for the evening, as well as for the coalition’s annual operating budget, came from a $100,000 Drug-Free Communities Grant from the federal government. In the three years since the coalition was formed, it has been sustained by an annual $143,000 state incentive, but that money runs out in June. The Drug-Free Communities Grant will help continue the program into next year, although Glyzinski said the coalition is trying to secure additional grants to make up the other $43,000.

The coalition “provides a lot of services for kids that they wouldn’t otherwise get,” Glyzinski said.

Another Family Night Out is planned at Oak Harbor Middle School on March 4, said Beth Prosch, co-president of the school’s PTA.