'Drive Sober, Do It For Jo' signs to return to Norwalk

NORWALK — Nearly five years after 15-year-old Alli Jo Kurdinat was killed in a crash involving a drunk driver, her family is continuing efforts to promote sober driving with a new community yard sign campaign planned next month. Her family will distribute 1,500 "Drive Sober, Do It For Jo" yard signs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 13 at Bishman Park across from the Norwalk Recreation Center. "There is no fee for a sign or shirt," Heather Armstrong, Alli Jo's mother, said. "We'll take donations, and those are going to go towards the scholarship and also help us towards the cost of the signs." The Alli Jo Kurdinat Memorial Scholarship was established in her memory to recognize a graduating senior member of the Norwalk High School Band each year, the district said. Applicants must maintain at least a 2.5 GPA during high school and plan to pursue post-secondary education through a four-year university, two-year college, technical program or CDL training. Promoting sober driving Armstrong said the signs were designed by her son-in-law and are part of an awareness effort the family has continued in the years following Alli Jo's death on May 21, 2021. "We always are promoting sober driving," Armstrong said. "Her stepmom, Veronica, and myself, we actually talk at a place called Second Chance Driving School, which is like a DUI school." Armstrong said the family has spoken regularly to convicted drunk drivers through the program, sharing Alli Jo's story and encouraging people to think before getting behind the wheel impaired. "When I first went and spoke for the very first time, it was 10 months after the accident," Armstrong said. "I was scared. I didn't want to face people. But now it's just like walking in there, it's just like another day to me." The family previously organized billboard campaigns following the crash. Armstrong said community members have continued asking when the yard signs would return. "I've had so many people just come up to me and ask me, 'Hey, when are we doing yard signs again?'" Armstrong said. "I'm like, 'You know what, I'm going to take initiative and do it.'" Along with the yard signs, Armstrong said the family also plans to distribute T-shirts and window stickers during the June event. A mobile billboard promoting the campaign is also expected to be parked at the distribution site. Preventing avoidable tragedies Alli Jo's death deeply impacted the community and sparked several public awareness efforts tied to impaired driving prevention. The family also previously used billboards carrying sober driving messages in her memory. Armstrong said continuing the campaign five years later is about trying to prevent another family from enduring the same loss. "If I can help one person, or if me telling my story and the things that I went through because of someone else's actions, it might be able to save someone's life," Armstrong said. "I would never want anybody to go through what me and my family have gone through." She said her message to drivers remains simple. "I just want people to be responsible," Armstrong said. "Be safe and get home safe to your families." As the anniversary of the crash approaches, Armstrong said she hopes the community continues to remember Alli Jo for the kind of person she was. "She was an awesome kid," Armstrong said. "She was so friendly and so kind. She was funny. She loved to sing. She was that person that if she saw somebody sitting by themselves at the lunchroom table, she would go over and make sure they weren't by themselves." "She was just a genuinely awesome kid," Armstrong continued. "I know people talk their kids up, but she was just a really good kid."