carrying the message: "Bermuda you've got what it takes.'' Tonight's final Harbour Nights shopping festival will focus on the anti-drugs coalition's fund raising campaign, it was announced yesterday at the official public launching of the campaign. A special booth will be set up and the Bank of Bermuda will be putting on a fireworks display.

During the day and for the duration of the campaign, radio advertisements will run featuring a special song written by local musician Mr. Owen Critchley and sung in various ways by local artists.

A series of advertisements courtesy of Aardvark will run in the print media and television ads are slated to start airing in December. All will feature the coalition's contact number for donations.

The coalition's communications committee chairperson Ms Wendy Davis Johnson said "Bermuda you've got what it takes'' was chosen as the campaign's theme.

"We believe that Bermuda does have what it takes to really come to grips with the alcohol and drug abuse issue. We're not just talking about money.

We're talking about spirit, determination and commitment.'' The ads were created to communicate the belief the community can make a difference in the war, she said.

They were also designed to provide an invitation to the community "to get involved'' she said.

Council Partners Campaign chairperson Mrs. Katherine Watson noted that although it may seem it was easy to raise the $2.6 million the coalition has already raised privately, it took "a long time'' to get there.

"We first met as a group a year ago and since them have planned and prepared for the campaign,'' she said.

"The amount of work that has gone into this campaign is formidable. The task was often daunting. But the people standing behind me (heads of the five charity partners) are responsible for the success we have had so far.'' They had realised the need to be organised to raise the substantial funds required to fight the war on drugs and alcohol dependency, she said.

Ms Davis Johnson stressed the five groups that make up the Council Partners were not the "beginning and end of it''. The coalition was willing to grow as big as funding allowed, she said.

The success of the partners' five-year fund raising drive, slated to end next June, will, according to its mission statement, enable the five charities involved to initially: Rehabilitate 60 drug-dependent women.

Create an Island-wide network of parents empowered with information to help children refuse drugs and alcohol.

Teach children and their parents the skills to make informed choices.

Help 50 adults with little education gain their high schools diploma or trade school certificate.

Fund the professional development of 15 Bermudians a year to achieve results in the field of alcohol and drugs.

The partners, which come under the umbrella of the National Drug Commission, are PRIDE (Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education), Focus programme for the homeless, CADA (the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse), Fair Havens rehabilitation centre for women and Lions Quest.

GOING PUBLIC -- Chairperson of the Council Partners $5 million fund raising campaign, Mrs. Katherine Watson, announces its official public launch at a news conference at the National Drug Commission's offices yesterday. The theme is "Bermuda you've got what it takes''.