Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One Team Maintains Responsiveness To Community During COVID-19 Crisis
Published on May 18, 2020
The Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One substance abuse recovery and resource program team continues to persevere and respond to individuals struggling with addiction and mental health disorders while the COVID-19 pandemic persists and will be on the road in Morristown on May 21.
From left, Morris County Sheriff's Office Undersheriff Mark Spitzer, Reverend Sidney Williams, Dover Mayor Carolyn Blackman and Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon at the Table of Hope mobile food pantry distribution site in Dover on May 15.
The Hope One team this Thursday will work in tandem with the Table of Hope mobile food pantry, a non-profit program of the Spring Street Community Development Corporation, as its volunteers distribute food from a parking lot on Bishop Nazery Way in Morristown to anyone in need, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Maintaining a safe social distance, the Hope One team of Morris County Sheriff's Office Corporal Erica Valvano, a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist from the Center For Addiction Recovery, Education and Success (CARES) and a mental health specialist from the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris will distribute brochures about Hope One's services, including connections to recovery programs and free Narcan training.
The Hope One team of Corporal Valvano, Certified Peer Recovery Specialist Kelly LaBar and Mental Health Specialist Al Shurdom on Friday, May 15, worked alongside the mobile food pantry at its distribution sites in Parsippany and Dover. The team distributed a total of 325 brochures and flyers to individuals as they waited in the food distribution lines.
The team also delivered 20 boxes of groceries to Garden Chapel in Victory Gardens and four additional grocery boxes to Hope One clients.
Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon and Bureau of Law Enforcement Undersheriff Mark Spitzer visited the Dover food distribution site on May 15, where they met with Dover Mayor Carolyn Blackman and the Rev. Sidney Williams, who founded the Spring Street Community Development Corporation and is pastor of Bethel AME Church in Morristown.
On May 13, a Hope One team was present outside the Superior Court probation office in Dover at its outdoor drug screening tent. The team Narcan-trained six people, including a man who recently lost his best friend to an overdose, a male who witnessed an individual overdose and a man in recovery. Certified Peer Recovery Specialist LaBar assisted a male by connecting him to medically assisted treatment (MAT) while another man was signed up for telephone recovery support.
Hope One is offering free Narcan training via Zoom this Friday, May 22, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to anyone in Morris County who is interested. Please contact Mr. Shurdom at [email protected] to register.