Celebrate Freedom: 2017 year in review.

Celebrate Freedom: 2017 year in review. 

I have been blessed to be set free from my alcohol and drug addiction since 2015 due to my faith in Jesus Christ and my participation in the Celebrate Freedom Recovery Program at Rock Solid Church.  Since completing the program in June 2015, I have become active in the ministry by teaching on a regular basis. As 2017 began I was honored to take on the added responsibility of leading the men’s discussion group for our Thursday Night meetings. 

 

In response to the Opioid Epidemic that has had such an impact on our community this year and because of Celebrate Freedom’s desire to help more people leave their hurts, habits, and hang ups behind, the leadership team of Celebrate Freedom (CF) decided to expand the vision of Celebrate Freedom to go beyond our stated goals of recovery and discipleship to included community outreach.  

Previously we had relied on announcements at Rock Solid Church and word of mouth to let people know about our recovery program.  This year it was our desire to more proactively promote our group to the community at large and to support other recovery groups, organizations, and county agencies that were fighting the Opiod Epidemic and other problems that affect the community.  

I took on the responsibility to act as a liaison to the community and to promote Celebrate Freedom as a recovery option for the Columbia County community in whatever capacity I could think of. 

Our first course of action was to support and to become a member of Columbia Pathways to Recovery.  Columbia Pathways to Recovery ((http://columbiapathwaystorecovery.org/) is a Community Recovery Organization and advocacy group whose goal is “to educate the community about the substance abuse issues that occur in our community”

(https://www.facebook.com/pg/columbiapathwaystorecovery/about/?ref=page_internal). 

They have partnered with Chatham Cares 4 U to create a help line for those in Columbia County who seek recovery:

Columbia Pathways To Recovery / Chatham Cares 4 U Recovery Helpline
877-HOPE-365 (877-467-3365)
9am to 9pm / 7 days a week
Information, resources and referrals

Chatham Cares 4 U (https://www.facebook.com/chathamcares4u/) is the Chatham Police Department’s progressive community program that seeks to save and change lives of those with substance abuse problems.

             There is great work being done through Columbia Pathways to Recovery and Chatham Cares 4 U to battle the Opioid Epidemic that plagues our community and Celebrate Freedom fully supports their efforts.  

Since June I have attended CPR’s monthly community meetings, Project Safe Point’s Narcan Trainings, and various Substance Abuse Community Panel Discussions throughout Columbia County to educate myself and to represent and promote Celebrate Freedom as a recovery option for Columbia County residents. Celebrate Freedom designed a T-shirt and informational fliers to raise awareness of our recovery group and I tried to don a shirt and distribute our fliers at each event I attended. 

            In an effort to promote our program to the community at large I also represented Celebrate Freedom by wearing a shirt at various community walking  events in and outside Columbia County , such as, CPR’s Recovery Walk,  The Walk to End Alzheimer’s, The Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk, and Ferncliff Forrest’s Turkey Trot. 

            Celebrate Freedom was also represented by tabling at Taconic Retreat Centers’ Fall Festival and Hudson’s Winter Walk Event (at Rock Solid Church).

Celebrate Freedom also tabled at CPR’s hosted Marc Mero Speaking Event at Hudson High School where our team distributed various information and 100 Bibles to the community.   

Members of Rock Solid Church and Celebrate Freedom also represented the Hope of a Life in Christ by Collecting for The Salvation Army. 

I would like to thank the leadership team, participants, and the many volunteers of Celebrate Freedom that gave their time and hearts to share the hope that they know is possible through faith in Christ. 

We have been faithful in our efforts to promote our program and the hope that is found in a life that is transformed by faith in Jesus Christ.    It has been a great year and I look forward to serving Celebrate Freedom and the community at large in 2018.  

If you have any questions or ideas of how we can serve the community and promote our group in the New Year,  please contact me at mt4christ@yahoo.com.