CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and the West Virginia Council of Churches are collaborating to bring a day of hope for prevention and recovery on Sept. 13.
The organizations made the announcement in both Wheeling and Charleston on Tuesday.
“I think we need a day of hope to recognize how epidemic the drug problem has become across Appalachia, across the Tri-State area – Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia,” said The Most Rev. Dr. Ralph Dunkin, the bishop of the West Virginia-Western Maryland for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
In June, Dunkin said they were informed by U.S. Attorney and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin that 290 people from the Northern Panhandle have died in the last two years due to heroin abuse.
“We keep hearing numbers that are astronomical of the number of people who are getting involved with binge drinking and those adults, supposedly, who are self-medicating,” he said.
For that reason, the coalition is calling attention to a wide range of what’s happening with substance abuse in West Virginia and other states. This is the first effort to get churches and faith communities involved with the prevention.
“We’ve always had a couple ministers working with us, but never on a statewide sort of large scale like this, so we’re really excited about it and we think it’s a great opportunity to reach a lot of people,” said Martha Polinsky, the project coordinator of the coalition, who was also a guest on “Talkline.”
In the Northern Panhandle and along the Ohio River, Dunkin said they have heard from tracking and chemical industry workers that nine out of 10 natives are unable to pass a drug test to land a job.
“We’re seeing lives are being wrecked and destroyed,” he said about the few amount of people who are aware of this issue. “We’re offering prayers, bible study, indicting those who’ve been in recovery to talk about their experience and talk about the consequences of substance abuse.”
For churches that would like to get involved in this effort, call the West Virginia Council of Churches at (304)-344-3141, the Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition at (304)-233-2045 or visit the coalition’s Facebook page.