ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Drug Endangered Task Force has been awarded two grants, which were approved last week by the Board of Commissioners.
The largest grant was for $40,000 from Community Impact North Carolina.
Theressa Smith, interim director of the Department of Social Services, said the funds will be used to further DEFT’s mission, which is to: “prevent prescription and illegal drug overdoses. The task force will form partnerships, raise awareness, and educate the community on this public issue in hopes of reducing overdoses and increasing access to treatment.”
Efforts mentioned in the agenda include advertising, the purchase of medicine lockboxes and drug disposal pouches, training curriculum, and other activities.
“We are going to … be focusing a lot on our youth services and how to get messaging out to the youth in our community about the risk of using different substances,” Smith told commissioners.
Smith said DEFT has received several grants from CINC in the past.
DEFT also was awarded a $500 Recovery Month grant from Addiction Professionals of North Carolina that will be used to host a community event for recovery later this month.
That event is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. Sept. 25 at Cole Auditorium and will include guest speakers discussing:
- Becoming a peer support specialist
- Overcoming addiction
- Stigma and recovery
- Supporting a loved one in addiction recovery
For more information on that event, contact Smith at 910-997-8379 or Kendra Faries at 910-997-8292.
(Disclosure: This writer is a non-voting media representative on the task force.)
Also for Recovery Month, the nonprofit group Steve’s Wings for Humanity will host the inaugural Walk for Sobriety at noon Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Richmond County Airport.
“We invite everyone to come out and celebrate their recovery,” reads the event page description on Facebook. “Even if you have not dealt with addiction personally, we invite you as well anyway for the support. Bouncing back from addiction is one of the hardest things that any human being could do, and for that reason, it should be celebrated.”
For more information on the Walk for Sobriety, contact Melissa Schoonover at 910-417-8740.
Richmond County had the second-highest rate (67.8 per 100,000) of fentanyl-positive deaths from June 2023-May 2024, according to statistics released by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner last month.
A 15-year-old girl reportedly died in May from an overdose, according to information presented to the Drug Endangered Family Task Force earlier this summer.
Prior to accepting the grants, commissioners approved a proclamation recognizing September as Senior Center Month.
Richmond County has four senior centers to serve the aging population: Rockingham; East Rockingham; Ellerbe; and Hamlet.
The first item on the agenda was an update on the Richmond County Partnership for Children by Executive Director Dr. Katrina Chance.
Chance said that Gov. Roy Cooper earlier this month issued a proclamation declaring September as Smart Start Month.
Click here to read a press release from Smart Start.
“This is very important as we recognize early care and education,” Chance said.
Positive Childhood Alliance NC (formerly Prevent Child Abuse NC) recently awarded a $50,000 grant to RCPC. Chance said the funding would be used to enhance the Family Resource Center.
Smart Start only funds programs for children up to 5 years old, so Chance said RCPC will use the $50,000 grant to help the families in the Circle of Parents group who have aged out.
“We do not want the families to come, reach the age of 5 and turn them loose,” Chance said. “So what the $50,000 is used for is to help those families continue to stay with us until they’re ready. So we call that Forever Families.”
The Circle of Parents Group was started at the height of the COVID pandemic with two groups, according to Chance. One group met at Place of Grace and the other was virtual.
Chance then called Joanna Crump, one of the Circle of Parents leaders, and Dobbins Heights Councilwoman Angeline David — the “mother” of the group — up to the podium to say a few words.
“We have an awesome group,” said the mother of two, adding that the staff is “like part of my family.”
“We just take care of each other and show our love for each one of them,” said David.
Although the name of the group is Circle of Parents, Chance said any “caring adults of children” are welcome to join — such as David, who brings her 3-year-old great-nephew — “you don’t have to birth a child to be part of the families.”
Chance ended her time at the podium asking the commissioners for county funding.
“Because I know that you all know how important it is for our early care and education programs …because it all starts at home with our children. And if our children are not prepared, the economy is not prepared in the long run.”
