Click here to see Tembi Muna’s video of this great event
Thanks to The Advocate for its coverage — click here to read the story
Capital Area Human Services (CAHS) Prevention and Wellness Services hosted another “Driving Into Recovery” event on Sept. 16 at the Frank Sotile Jr. Pavilion in Donaldsonville, in partnership with the Office of Mayor Leroy Sullivan, and City of Donaldsonville.
“September is National Recovery Month, and we wanted to use our Driving Into Recovery initiative to gather community partners and conduct outreach to raise awareness about substance misuse and to let individuals and families know that recovery is real,” said CAHS Executive Director Jan Laughinghouse, PhD, LCSW-BACS, LAC, CCS.
CAHS’ Prevention Team is in its third round of delivering Driving Into Recovery events to bring substance misuse and recovery education to the agency’s seven-parish region.
In Donaldsonville, more than 22 community vendors participated and provided services to more than 200 area residents during the three-hour event. Attendees received food boxes, children’s diapers, along with information about mental and physical health, substance misuse, prevention, and addiction recovery.
Special thanks to Donaldsonville Mayor Leroy Sullivan who helped organize the event and promoted it on his Facebook Live broadcast and to Ascension Parish Councilman Alvin “Coach” Thomas, Jr. (District 1) who canvassed the community, passing out flyers and promoting the event.
The CAHS team also distributed 150 fentanyl testing strips and 132 kits of Narcan, the opioid overdose-reversal medication.
Elks Lodge #1153 sponsored food boxes for community members in need. “Capital Area Human Services did a great job delivering a wealth of community resources today in addition to their much-needed mental health and addiction awareness and recovery services,” said Elks Lodge volunteer Lee Melancon.
We deeply appreciate the following sponsors who made the event such a success:
- Mayor Leroy Sullivan
- Ascension Parish Councilman Alvin “Coach” Thomas Jr. (District 1)
- Ascension Parish Sherriff Department
- City of Donaldsonville
- Donaldsonville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Priority Care
- Coca-Cola Bottling Company
- Elks Lodge #1153
- Donaldsonville First
- WellCare
- MBEC-Small Business Center
The Driving Into Recovery Initiative, which began in 2021, has also been held in Baker, Baton Rouge, Plaquemine, Port Allen, New Roads, St. Francisville, and Clinton.