WINTER 2020 Catholiccharitiestrenton.Org COMMITTING to RECOVERY to Protect Her Family’S Future Depression Drove Britney Into Addiction
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The SPIRITWINTER 2020 CatholicCharitiesTrenton.org COMMITTING TO RECOVERY To Protect Her Family’s Future Depression drove Britney into addiction. “I was so depressed I just wanted to numb all my feelings. At one point, I didn’t even want to live any more,” she said. “I started with pills. Then heroin. I was using for seven and a half months - four or five bags of heroin a day.” s Britney and Jim Keashon, Project Free supervisor. At Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, where Britney gave birth in June, someone suggested she reach out to Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton. Catholic Charities has a variety of addiction-recovery programs, all of which stayed open and fully operational through the pandemic. Services are available in-person and remotely An unplanned pregnancy was the wake-up call she through telehealth. needed to begin recovery. Within a day Britney was enrolled in Catholic Charities’ “I already wanted to get help. I didn’t want to keep Project Free, an intensive outpatient recovery program doing this for the rest of my life,” she said. “So when I based in Mercer County. There, she began Medication- found out I was pregnant, it was scary. It was like a sign Assisted Treatment, or MAT, which is the use of FDA- from God. I didn’t want to hurt my baby, and I needed approved medications in combination with evidence-based that driving force to free me from the way I was living behavioral therapies. MAT has been proven to significantly for a long time.” reduce addiction and cravings, prevent relapses and re- Immediately, she began reaching out to addiction- establish healthy brain functioning. Catholic Charities recovery programs. received a state grant last summer to coordinate MAT services county-wide, with the goal of getting more people “Every place I called, no joke, said: ‘we can’t get you in on the road to recovery. now’ or ‘we have too many people as it is’ or ‘our wait time is six weeks, minimum,’” she recalled. Now nearly four months into her recovery, Britney is on an MAT drug that is safe for breastfeeding mothers. Indeed, the pandemic sent opioid deaths surging, Her newborn son spent a few weeks in neonatal intensive as isolation and stress drove more people to drugs to care to make sure he had no lasting problems, but he’s cope. At the same time, many recovery programs closed home and thriving now. Britney attends a women-only facilities or cut services in response to the lockdown and resulting economic crisis. Continued on page 4 A Message from the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR As Thanksgiving, Christmas and the needs of others and acted without end of 2020 approach, I find myself hesitation for their good. This The Spirit is published quarterly by Catholic Charities, Diocese of reflecting on the past year. It’s been challenging year also underscored Trenton’s Development and Marketing a time like no other, forcing us to the sad reality that racism – a root Department. separate while we fervently sought cause of poverty among people of ways to remain connected with our color – is not history but continues 383 West State Street loved ones through Zoom, drive-by to fester. Yet people of good will Trenton, NJ 08618 visits and more. I am grateful for acted to be a part of the solution in a (609) 394–5181 our employees who proved they are peaceful, prayerful way. Publisher: Marlene Laó-Collins real heroes by continuing to care As 2021 approaches, our Editor-in-Chief: Nancy Tompkins for those who came to us for help collective prayers and action must Writer: Dana DiFilippo during this difficult time. continue as we work to eliminate Designer: Miroslav Farina I am grateful, too, to our donors, poverty, trauma, racism and whose commitment to people in adversity to restore dignity and Photographer: Dana DiFilippo need remained strong through a independence to individuals and tumultuous year. We simply cannot families. I look forward to our Thanks to our donors. Your deny the human connection that continued partnership. support makes these success binds us together no matter who Warmly, stories possible. we are, where we live, the faith we practice, the color of our skin or the Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, language we speak. Amidst the fear of inspired by our Catholic faith and shared a deadly pandemic and the emotional values, restores dignity and independence and economic instability it created, to individuals and families, especially Marlene Laó-Collins, the poor and vulnerable, through service, we witnessed the steadfast dedication advocacy and community building. of our donors, who recognized the Executive Director SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR Catholic Charities, Diocese of GENEROUS SPONSORS: Trenton Board of Trustees The Walter R. Earle ANGEL OF PEACE Memorial Foundation Advanced Coring and Cutting Guardian Angel The Hibbert Group Corporation Most Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M.* – Benet of Hope Thomas J. and Dr. Judithann C. Keefe Michael and Ellen Brogan President J. C. Kellogg Foundation Brian and Mary Ellen Burriss John M. Tesoro – Chair ANGEL OF LIGHT OceanFirst Bank Causeway Family of Dealerships Ray Catena Motor Car Corporation Church of St. Pius X J. George Reilly – Vice Chair Riverview Studios The Curchin Group, LLC Stark & Stark Robert and Maureen Donnelly Josephine R. Esquivel John and Nancy Tesoro Scott and Janet Garley Georgian Court University Rev. Msgr. Thomas Gervasio* GUARDIAN ANGEL ANGEL OF HOPE Peter and Mary Ellen Griffin Michael W. Herbert, Esq. Atlantic Lining Company, Inc. Bayada Home Health Care Hugh and Mary-Ann Guyler Bank of America Merrill Lynch Thomas and Valarie DeFelice Joanne Hall Martin Hernandez The Domenick Group Retirement Income Solutions Raymond and Gloria Harter Robert and Karen Tanzola Drs. Jack and Jean Kirnan Law Offices of Lynda L. Hinkle Dr. Jack V. Kirnan LFH Foundation Alice Jones ANGEL Paul J. Kolano NJM Insurance Group Creative Financial Strategies, LLC JSPM, LLC Reilly Financial Group Gateway Licensing, LLC The Kotzas Family Stanley Koreyva Parish Family of St. Catharine & Jeffrey and Megan Gordon Charitable Foundation St. Margaret Jersey Shore Running Club The Parish of St. Mary John Kuchinski McCollister’s Transportation ARCHANGEL Law Offices of John F. Marshall Marlene Laó-Collins M&T Charitable Foundation Group The Allied Group OceanFirst Foundation Amboy Bank New Jersey Natural Gas Brenda L. Rascher* Occupational Safety Services, Inc. Robert and Diane Powderly Archer Law St. Francis Medical Center Vladimir St. Phard Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Parker McCay R.P. Mobile Diagnostics, LLC Daniel and Debra Stolbof Bellarmine Robert L. Tanzola Wells Fargo Bank Damian J. Sylvia *Corporate Woolman Construction 2 catholiccharitiestrenton.org Caroline Taylor Board GRATEFUL FOR HELP She Pays It Forward An elderly neighbor first told Mary Farrar about Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton’s Fix It program. She had an overhead garage light that went out, and she couldn’t reach it to replace it. So she called Fix It, which sent a volunteer to replace it for free. Then a funny thing happened that same day: Mary’s own garage light went out. “When you’re older and you’re by yourself, you start doing different thinking. You find there are a lot of s Mary Farrar changed her will to include the Fix It things you won’t do, because you think: ‘What if I fall? program, grateful that Fix It volunteers have installed Who will help me? When will they find me?’” said Mary, grab bars like this one and have done other minor 79, who lives in a Jackson retirement community. chores around her Jackson home in recent years. So Mary called Fix It, a program based at Catholic “I believe that to whom much is given, much is Charities’ Community Services-Ocean that enlists expected. I think we have an obligation to help people volunteers to perform minor home repairs and chores who need the help, especially when you’re so much in elderly Ocean County residents’ homes to ensure they better off financially than they are,” said Mary, a can live safely and independently. parishioner at St. Aloysius in Jackson. That was two years ago, and Mary has become such Such support is deeply appreciated and needed, said a fan of Fix It that she calls them a few times a year to John McCrone, Fix It’s volunteer coordinator. help her check things off her house to-do list. Fix It “Mary is our typical client and also an atypical client. volunteers have replaced her fridge and furnace filters, She’s 79, a widow, living on her own. That makes her installed grab bars to help her avoid falls, installed and our typical client,” McCrone said. “On the other hand, checked her smoke detectors, changed lights, removed most of our clients don’t have the means to give back hornet nests and more. for the services they receive from us. That’s what makes “I got to really love the program. It’s like somebody Mary so special to me, and more so to those other clients you can count on - it’s like having a husband there, we are helping every day.” kind of, who can fix things when they need fixing,” she The program recently received funding from said with a laugh. Ocean County related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, She especially loves that Fix It, like all Catholic and Economic Security (CARES) Act to expand Fix It Charities programs, serves people of all faiths, she added. services, including adding “reassurance calls.” Volunteers check in on isolated seniors to ensure their safety and stability and offer a friendly ear. HELPING PEOPLE IN NEED In February, Mary lost her husband Frank, after a long That’s welcome news to Mary.