Operation UNITE will celebrate the expansion of its prevention services to Garrard County at a community luncheon to be held from 11 am to 1 pm on Wednesday, November 6, at the First Southern National Bank meeting room, 27 Public Square, Lancaster, KY.
Representatives from Operation UNITE and the newly-formed Garrard County UNITE Coalition will be present to share the mission of providing hope, changing the culture of generational substance misuse, and supporting recovery. Discover how UNITE is building a healthier community together.
Anyone planning to attend is asked to RSVP by going to https://operationunite.org/garrard-county-luncheon-celebration/
Garrard County is the first of several counties that will benefit from the expansion of Operation UNITE’s highly-successful prevention initiatives, made possible by a $751,850 grant from the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission announced in June by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman.
“Families across this Commonwealth continue to endure the darkness of addiction,” Coleman said when the grants were announced. “These abatement grants and the programs they support provide a glimmer of hope. (These) grant recipients are investing in bold ideas to forever change the trajectory of the drug crisis in Kentucky.”
The grant will enable UNITE to add two additional Area Prevention Coordinators, along with two additional UNITE Coalition Coordinators.
Currently, Operation UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education) provides direct services to a 33-county region across southern and eastern Kentucky. Expansion counties will be contiguous to its service area, although the exact counties have yet to be determined.
“Being afforded the ability to spread prevention programming in a manner that hasn't occurred before is pivotal in this time, said Courtney Maynard, Operation UNITE’s Education Director.
“Operation UNITE holds strongly that it is our purpose to create hope and change the culture. This begins with educating our children on the dangers of substances and strengthening their abilities to make a choice to remain substance free,” Maynard stated. “Many of our youth are facing generational curses of substance misuse, and it is within our power to teach them how these chains can be broken.”
“Receiving funding to pour into this mission, and expand our reach, is not only necessary, but provides our adolescents with a fighting chance to make informed choices that impact their lives,” Maynard concluded.
The KY Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, which is responsible for distributing the Commonwealth’s share of nearly $900 million recovered in opioid settlements, considered more than 160 applications seeking over $85 million. Commission members voted to approve the most recent awards.
“Through this grant process, we’ve had the opportunity to see firsthand the extraordinary work being done to save lives in Kentucky,” said Chris Evans, Executive Director of the Commission. “I’m grateful to the Commission members and staff for their dedication and partnership that will promote real recovery across the Commonwealth.”
Learn more about the Commission: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Priorities/Tackling-the-Drug-Epidemic/Pages/Opioid-Abatement-Advisory-Commission-.aspx
For more information about Operation UNITE initiatives, please visit their website at OperationUNITE.org.
