My name is Stephanie Miller and I am the manager for the Lewis County Drug Court (LCDC) and Family Recovery Court (FRC) programs. Our programs are well supported by the community, the Drug Court Foundation and the Lewis County Drug Court Alumni Association.
The support does not go unnoticed and is very much appreciated.
The foundation and alumni have put on four community 5Ks. Every year it gets bigger, which means more funds raised. This year was no different. We had over 130 registered walkers and runners. Thank you to all who attended and sponsored the 5K. The foundation and alumni use those funds to support program participants in ways that our regular budget cannot.
Last weekend was a great example of the extra benefits the alumni add through their fundraising efforts. The LCDC alumni hosted a recovery camp at Taidnapam Park. There were participants there with over 18 months of sobriety and participants there with merely a few days away from fentanyl. That didn’t matter. The campout was about community.
Alumni took the opportunity to connect with current participants and show them that camping (and any other day) can be conquered sober. We had participants and their children experiencing their first camping trips. Many camped sober for the first time, ever.
We even had a father in FRC who was having his first overnight with his child. There were 21 adults and 28 children. Great fun was had by all of them.
I want to applaud the alumni of this program who are planning these kinds of events and are out there doing the next right thing day after day. I tell them all the time that I am proud of them and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
We have many alumni who are using their life stories to impact others, working closely with people who are still struggling. It takes a village to lift someone out of addiction and they are building that village with their actions. I’m proud and this community should be proud, too.
Way to go, Lewis County Drug Court and Family Recovery Court alumni. You are all making a difference. You are all awesome. But most importantly, you are all worth it.
Stephanie Miller
Chehalis
