Opioid education grant hits goal

A matching-donation fund set up by a Columbus couple to support educational programs to prevent substance abuse reached its goal a week before the deadline.

The $500,000 goal, which will result in a $500,000 match from Mark and Wendy Elwood, was reached last week, said Tracy Souza, president and CEO of the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.

Mark Elwood is chairman and CEO of Columbus-based Elwood Staffing. Wendy Elwood’s community commitments include serving on the Heritage Fund board.

The couple announced the challenge grant in October, offering a dollar-for-dollar match up to $500,000 to be earmarked specifically for educational programming for substance abuse prevention.

“Mark and I feel strongly that efforts to educate and prevent kids from using drugs is the best way to combat the growing epidemic in the community,” Wendy Elwood said when announcing the matching-fund program last fall.

In late February, a month before the March 31 deadline, the fund still needed $123,257, but a late rally put the fund drive over the top.

Gifts have ranged from small to large, including a $40,000 grant from the Heritage Fund itself, which had set aside money in 2017 earmarked for some sort of response to the opioid addiction crisis, she said.

Some donations have included letters explaining the reason for the donation, and some donations have been made in memory of loved ones, Souza said.

For the community to raise $500,000 in five months is probably a record for Columbus, Souza said.

“Fundraising experts say you have to lay out the case for why the money is needed, but this is a unique situation,” she said. “People know why this is needed.”

Donations are continuing to come in even as the goal has been met, Souza said.

The next step for the fund will be when Jeff Jones, executive lead of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County, provides details about how the money in the fund specifically will be used for prevention education, Souza said. That information will be part of an April 25 report to the community, she said.

Jones said in an earlier interview that the Elwood fund creates an amazing opportunity for the Columbus community to establish a community culture of prevention.

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When: 6:30 p.m. April 25

Where: The Commons, 300 Washington St., Columbus

Program: Speakers are being finalized and a program will be released soon.

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