ABERDEEN, Md. — A local non-profit on the frontlines in the battle against opioid addiction is expanding its services to Harford County.
Voices of Hope held a grand opening on Friday for its new recovery center in Aberdeen.
“We really just want to provide a place for people who are in recovery or looking to be in recovery, to come to feel love, to feel safe and have hope,” Marcus Webster II, who is a program advocate for the organization, said.
Located in the Aberdeen Shopping Plaza, the non-profit will offer a 12-step recovery program, while providing peer support services, harm reduction, outreach and so much more.
The community-based organization will also help people get the treatment they need.
“We’re at the point where I don’t think anybody has not been impacted by this opioid crisis that we find ourselves in,” he said.
The center is opening at the same time opioid overdose deaths are on the rise.
“I was addicted to meth as well as heroin,” said Jerah Griffith who now works with Voices of Hope.
Griffith was 99 pounds and homeless when she came to Voices of Hope, but they helped her turn her life around.
“They were there. They reached their hand right out and grabbed me and I asked for help and that’s what they did,” she said.
She’s been clean for nearly two years. Now others like her work with the non-profit to get others on the road to recovery
“We’re in the business of saving lives,” she said.
It’s an effort the non-profit knows is an uphill battle, but it’s one they believe is worth fighting.
“We know we’re not going to be able to save everybody, but we want to make sure that we save one at a time,” Webster said. “We’re trying to not just save lives, but help people create new lives as well.”
For more information about Voice of Hope, you can visit the organization’s website.
