{"id":117661,"date":"2019-05-10T07:56:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T12:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=117661"},"modified":"2019-05-11T07:23:10","modified_gmt":"2019-05-11T12:23:10","slug":"foa-group-raising-funds-for-anti-drug-presentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/05\/10\/foa-group-raising-funds-for-anti-drug-presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"FOA seeks anti-drug presentation funds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Van Wert chapter of Families of Addicts (FOA), a non-profit group that works to rebuild families and transform lives of families devastated by drug addiction, is seeking donations to help bring an anti-drug to local young people during the 2019-20 school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rise Together members (from the left) Anthony Alvarado, Douglas Darby, and Nadine Machkovech.<\/strong> photo provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shane Manson, coordinator of the local FOA chapter, which was formed a year ago in January to help local families, said the group targets families because there aren\u2019t many resources available for family members of addicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur main focus is on family members, because of the fact of, there is help for people with addiction, there\u2019s help for people in recovery, but the family members are the people who don\u2019t know how to navigate the whole crazy thing,\u201d Manson, whose daughter, an addict, was recently was released from prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOA is a state initiative founded in Dayton nearly six years ago by Lori Erion. The 501(c)(3) non-profit now has chapters in Dayton, Springfield, Troy, Sidney, and Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local group currently holds weekly meetings from 7:30-9 p.m. Mondays at American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert to provide information, assistance, and support to families caught up in the drug addiction of a family member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meetings provide a non-judgmental environment where people can openly discuss their challenges in dealing with addicted family members, while speakers are also brought in to provide information on a variety of related subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Manson said that, when he saw that drug abuse education in the local schools under the DARE program effectively ended in sixth grade, he wanted to do something, hopefully on an annual basis, to extend that education effort to middle and high school students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After hearing about a Wisconsin-based group called Rise Together that was making presentations to more than 200,000 youngsters a year all over the country, Manson and his wife went to Wisconsin to watch the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were, for lack of a better term, awesome,\u201d Manson said, noting that the three-member group weaves a number of storylines together to hold the attention of students, while providing them with information on drug abuse, as well as bullying, mental health issues, and a number of other relevant issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also has developed a RAISE project that organizes clubs at schools led by the young people themselves, and encourages students to commit to a \u201cCraig 21\u201d pledge in which they pledge to give up something they crave — whether it be chocolate, fast food, drugs, vaping, or cigarettes, for example — for 21 days. The idea is that, if a young person is able to give something up for 21 days, there is a possibility they can give it up for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has been featured in stories by a number of media outlets, including Forbes magazine, the Huffington Post, and on National Public Radio and PBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After hearing the group, which includes co-founder Anthony Alvarado, substance abuse recovery coach and recovering addict Nadine Machkovech, and recovering addict Douglas Darby, Manson said he was determined to bring a presentation to Van Wert young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He began talking with Rise Together members and has set up local presentations at Van Wert, Crestview, Lincolnview, and Delphos Jefferson schools, as well as a public session for parents in the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio. He said he is also talking to Vantage Career Center about allowing students there who are from those schools to attend those presentations. The sessions are to run from November 4-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to do so, Manson is seeking donations from community businesses, organizations, and individuals to help fund the $43,000 needed to be Rise Together to Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manson said he set up an account at First Federal of Van Wert for donations after receiving a donation of $2,500 from Cooper Farms, as well as funding interest from Van Wert Health, Eaton Corporation, and other local businesses and groups. In addition, the Van Wert Area Performing Arts Foundation, the group that operates the NPAC, is providing the performance hall for free and will place the event in its Speaker Series brochure.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manson said he is hoping to get enough money raised to have Rise Together come to Van Wert, and also has set a goal of bringing some type of drug education presentation to local schools each year to provide older students annual substance abuse education opportunities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those interested in making a donation can stop in at First Federal and can either give anonymously or through a public donation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The Van Wert chapter of Families of Addicts (FOA), a non-profit group that works to rebuild families and transform lives of families devastated by drug addiction, is seeking donations to help bring an anti-drug to local young people during the 2019-20 school year. Shane Manson, coordinator of the local FOA chapter, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 06:50:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}