Group seeks to unite churches, community against heroin
Tired of each group working in silos, Joe and Amanda Nichols are trying to get churches and community groups to unite.
Group seeks to unite churches, community against heroin Tired of each group working in silos, Joe and Amanda Nichols are trying to get churches and community groups to unite. Check out this story on mansfieldnewsjournal.com: http://ohne.ws/2c8s5Ad
Courtney McNaull, Reporter Published 8:57 p.m. ET Sept. 7, 2016
Amanda Nichols, of Project One, discusses goals for Project One during a meeting at the Journey Life Center on in 2016.(Photo: Brian J. Smith/News Journal )Buy Photo
MANSFIELD - Joe and Amanda Nichols don't see a shortage of people wanting to help heroin addicts in Richland County. What they do see is a lack of unity among those individuals and groups.
"There's lots of pieces to the puzzle in the community, and everybody holds a piece. Everybody's putting their pieces of the puzzle out there, but some of the pieces just aren't fitting together," Joe Nichols said Wednesday at a meeting hosted by Project One, a ministry based out of Journey Life Center that runs a 24-hour addiction hotline and a program called Recovery Road for addicts and their families.
"People are dying, and if we don't unite and come together, people are going to continue dying. ... If it takes us a week to get somebody somewhere, they could very well be dead."
When the Nicholses started Project One a few years ago, they planned to start a detox center and provide services all the way from detox to the end stages of recovery, but they discovered many of the resources they wanted to offer already existed in the community. Now, they focus on the their hotline and support group and are preparing to launch a new effort to unite the area's faith- and community-based initiatives to better serve the needs of recovering addicts.
Wednesday's meeting at Journey Life Center was led by Amanda Nichols, who said she plans to devote herself full-time to the project soon and to really get the movement started by spring. The meeting was attended by several Project One board members as well as representatives of some of the community's newest initiatives in the fight against drug addiction — Ground Zero, Rubies Outreach and Kristin's Kids.
Led by recovering addict Justin Phillips, Ground Zero raised awareness through a march against heroin last month.
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Candace Williams started Rubies Outreach after people started coming to her for help to get clean. She helps people get into detox facilities or connect with resources during the recovery process.
Kristin Tallackson is starting an organization called Kristin's Kids to help children of addicts. She is fixing up a house she hopes will become a safe space for kids, and she and her husband are looking for children in need of mentors.
The group took a first step toward unity Wednesday by making the decision to combine two events that were planned one week apart but now both will be held Oct. 7 in Central Park on the square in downtown Mansfield.
The event will kick off with a 5 p.m. "recovery parade." The parade will not close the streets, but is planned to take place on downtown sidewalks. The parade will be followed by a free meal from 6 to 6:30 p.m. At 6:30, a balloon launch fundraiser will be held to raise money to send recovering addicts to detox centers or other service providers. Finally, at 7 p.m., Recovery Road will meet.
Amanda Nichols said combining Ground Zero's parade with Project One's Recovery Road Meeting will serve to connect the movement on the streets to the movement in the church. Before the October meeting, Project One hopes to get as many other churches as possible connected to the movement.
To speak with someone at Recovery Road, call the 24/7 hotline at 567-241-6781.
Where to find help in fight against heroin
Twitter: @courtneydayn
Candace Williams, of Rubies Outreach, talks during a meeting for Project One at the Journey Life Center on Wednesday evening. (Photo: Brian J. Smith/News Journal )
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