Community leaders are embracing a strategy to combat Bartholomew County opioid crisis that focuses on a coordinated treatment plan for victims, while placing a large emphasis on prevention.
The Alliance For Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County, led by executive lead Jeff Jones, has spent the last year coming up with the plan, which was presented Wednesday night at a Community Report meeting at The Commons, attended by about 400 people.
Jones, a retired Cummins executive who volunteered to lead the ASAP effort a year ago, provided a recap of the organization’s first year efforts and then had members of the ASAP team outline the system and strategy that will bring a myriad of community resources working together to help those struggling with opioid addiction.
Equally, if not more important, according to Jones, is a partnership announced with the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, which will administer the process of distributing $1 million to community programs focusing on preventing opioid addiction.
The money is from a challenge grant fund-raising process spearheaded by Mark and Wendy Elwood, who asked the community to match their donation of $500,000 to fund what will now be known as “Project Prevent.”
Tracy Souza, Heritage Fund CEO, lauded the Elwoods Wednesday night for their generous donation and also congratulated the community for donating the matching $500,000 in just four and a half months, with 225 individuals, businesses and families donating to the cause.
“Our community has a remarkable record of making things happen and when we see something that needs to be fixed, we work together to fix it,” Souza said. ASAP is a great example of that and so is the Elwood Fund for the Prevention of Substance Abuse.”
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
