Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Lauren Metzler shares updates from the Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery

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Talk Line: Lauren Metzler shares updates from the Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: It's eight thirty five and that means it's time for
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  Speaker 1: talk line. And today I'm joined by our good friends
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  Speaker 1: from the Salt Valley Voices of Recovery. I have Lauren
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  Speaker 1: Metzler and Jacob Elber excuse me joining me this morning.
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  Speaker 1: How are you all?
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  Speaker 2: I'm good? How are you? Brandon?
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  Speaker 1: Very well? Thank you, Jacob doing great? Thanks for having
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  Speaker 1: us green, Oh, always a pleasure. Now I'd like to
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  Speaker 1: start off just for folks who might not be familiar
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  Speaker 1: with the Salt Valley Voices of Recovery, just tell me
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about the you know, share a little
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  Speaker 1: bit about the organization.
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  Speaker 3: So what the organization is focused on in their mission
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  Speaker 3: is to build the recovery community. So we do you know,
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  Speaker 3: sober events free to the public so everybody can get together.
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  Speaker 3: It's not just people that are specifically in recovery that
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  Speaker 3: are welcome to these events. It's anybody you know that
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  Speaker 3: have loved ones that have passed to addiction, or loved
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  Speaker 3: ones that are struggling, or loved ones that are in recovery,
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  Speaker 3: and they're supporting everybody else in the recovery community.
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  Speaker 2: Jake, anything else to add about what? Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, Then we also have you know, we have
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  Speaker 4: many support groups for multiple different things, and then we
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  Speaker 4: have our Men's women men and women's.
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  Speaker 1: Sober living as well.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, we're all recovery.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you wanted to share some news about a
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  Speaker 1: special campaign, right.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, So we have been running a campaign. It's called
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  Speaker 3: Recovery Lives here. And with that, what we do is
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  Speaker 3: recognize somebody in recovery that's participating in all of the
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  Speaker 3: things with recovery, and then we honor someone from Tevan's
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  Speaker 3: Tribe that has passed to overdose or fetanyl poisoning and.
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  Speaker 1: Tell folks a little bit more about Tevan's Tribe.
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  Speaker 3: Tevin's Tribe is a nonprofit that I created in memorial
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  Speaker 3: of my brother Tevin Rumley that passed away to fetanel
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  Speaker 3: poisoning in twenty twenty. And with that, what I do
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  Speaker 3: is honor people's loved ones in different forms, you know,
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  Speaker 3: doing signs and walks and honoring them on the website
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  Speaker 3: which is Tevinstribe dot org. I do you know events
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  Speaker 3: to where I bring Tevin's Tribe and kind of put
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  Speaker 3: them out in the room and just honor and make
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  Speaker 3: sure that these loved ones are not forgotten.
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  Speaker 1: And this is you know, really important information and especially
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  Speaker 1: in an area you know, the size of ours, the
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  Speaker 1: kind of support that's available, you know, through these these
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  Speaker 1: nonprofits that y'all are a part of.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, because I feel like there's not a lot of
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  Speaker 3: support around here but that I know of, but also
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  Speaker 3: like letting it out there and letting the community know
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  Speaker 3: that there are people, It is possible, and we're here
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  Speaker 3: to support you and have fun still while doing it.
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  Speaker 3: You don't have to be drinking or using to have
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  Speaker 3: fun like you can also have fun and be sober.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean you guys have the all this
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  Speaker 1: the supporting place, the sober living facility that opened and
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  Speaker 1: Round Falls, I what was it Fleet last year?
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  Speaker 2: Was it?
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  Speaker 1: Or was it earlier this year? Times flying by anymore?
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  Speaker 3: You know what's crazy is the end of this month
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  Speaker 3: is when Gerald and I signed for that building, So
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  Speaker 3: it has been open for six months as of February.
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  Speaker 1: That is absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm actually meeting with Sam from the Chamber to discuss,
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  Speaker 3: you know, doing a six month check up and opening
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  Speaker 3: it up to the community to come to allow them
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  Speaker 3: to ask questions and then give them an update on
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  Speaker 3: how everything's been going, thanking them for their support and
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  Speaker 3: then letting people know.
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  Speaker 2: Struggles that we have had.
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  Speaker 3: And maybe there's somebody out there that can team up
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  Speaker 3: with us or even help us navigate those conversations to
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  Speaker 3: help support these women get around to jobs, secure jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Stuff like that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean that space has been absolutely transformed
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  Speaker 1: from what it was into something unlike any anything else
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  Speaker 1: we have in this area.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I was looking at videos and pictures the other day
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  Speaker 3: of what the building looked like when we went in,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm.
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  Speaker 2: Like, how does it even how how did we even
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  Speaker 2: make that happen? Like how was that possible?
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  Speaker 3: Because it I can't even explain to you, Brandon, did
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  Speaker 3: you see.
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  Speaker 2: It like at the beginning?
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  Speaker 1: You know, I did, And I had actually been in
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  Speaker 1: that that building before you folks had taken had taken
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  Speaker 1: over it, I mean years and years before when I
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  Speaker 1: was young man and young man god forty two now.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, get out there for everyone to hear.
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  Speaker 1: With the gray and the beard. I don't think I'm
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  Speaker 1: full of anyone anymore, No.
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  Speaker 3: No, but yeah, so just to see, you know, all
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  Speaker 3: the hard work and sweat, and there was a lot
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  Speaker 3: of tears everybody put into that. It's just it's mind
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  Speaker 3: blowing to me. And such a short amount of time.
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  Speaker 3: It's just awesome. It's awesome.
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  Speaker 1: What else did you you want to share today?
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  Speaker 3: I did want to kind of speak about, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the recovery he lives here, and then the fact of
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  Speaker 3: not only just remembering Keaton Olsen who passed in February
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  Speaker 3: of twenty twenty four, he was only nineteen. I want
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  Speaker 3: to shine the light and give Jake some time to
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  Speaker 3: kind of talk about his recovery journey or anything he
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  Speaker 3: wants to share and recognize him.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks, Lauren.
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  Speaker 4: Yet so I am the February twenty twenty six recovery
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  Speaker 4: he lives here champion.
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  Speaker 2: In which he's awesome.
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  Speaker 3: He is our ogl DeKalb Ross coordinator for Stock Valley
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  Speaker 3: Voices of Recovery And if nobody knows really what ROSK
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  Speaker 3: is in a quick, in a like way, it's recovery
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  Speaker 3: oriented systems of care. And what that is is you
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  Speaker 3: know people that are you know, police department's, hospitals, restaurants,
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  Speaker 3: anywhere that wants to come to get other and sees
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  Speaker 3: where the issues are in different counties and then we
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  Speaker 3: kind of work together to pursues and see what we
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  Speaker 3: can do to make it better.
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  Speaker 4: Oh's just say yeah, And it's kind of it. It's
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  Speaker 4: a statewide initiative and it's kind of by by counties.
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  Speaker 4: So here in this area we have the local de
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  Speaker 4: Calvin and the lead Whiteside, which are two different councils,
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  Speaker 4: but they kind of operate all together under the umbrella
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  Speaker 4: Sauk Valley. And like Lauren said, it's really just a
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  Speaker 4: way for stakeholders in the community to come together and
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  Speaker 4: really support recovery and and support each other.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that is open to anybody as well. So
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  Speaker 3: if anybody wants to join the councils, they can reach
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  Speaker 3: out to us at our office and just you know,
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  Speaker 3: they can ask for me, they can ask for Jake,
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  Speaker 3: and we can lead them in the right direction on
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  Speaker 3: where to go and how we'll go about it, and
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  Speaker 3: then also give them more detailed information on how it works.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely. Yeah, we have a monthly month primoal councils.
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  Speaker 1: There you go, folks, there is no better way to
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  Speaker 1: get involved and to do it directly and give them
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  Speaker 1: give them a call. I absolutely love this. And you
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  Speaker 1: had had mentioned before that we were on the air
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  Speaker 1: about some Facebook groups because you guys are about support
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  Speaker 1: and finding every kind of way to help folks with that.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, so I some of my coworkers decided that
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  Speaker 3: we're going to target to try to get five thousand followers.
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  Speaker 2: On our Facebook page.
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  Speaker 3: It's Sack Valley Voices of Recovery, and once we get
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  Speaker 3: the five thousand.
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  Speaker 2: Followers, they get to pie. Gerald and myself.
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  Speaker 1: Were like, it's the hard it is for me to
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  Speaker 1: promote that.
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  Speaker 2: I you know, I'm a team player, so I'll like
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  Speaker 2: and follow.
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  Speaker 1: Couldn't couldn't ask for more commitment than a pie in
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  Speaker 1: the face. I hope they let that pie cool before
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  Speaker 1: before they start throwing shots at you.
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  Speaker 2: They will for me, I don't I can't really say
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  Speaker 2: the things about Gerald. I don't know what they'll hear.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just worrying about myself at that point.
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  Speaker 1: Anything else you wanted to share this morning?
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  Speaker 3: I do want to let the community know here in
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  Speaker 3: Whiteside in Lee County that the other building on Martin Road,
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  Speaker 3: next to Cleatic's House of Hope, is in the works
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  Speaker 3: of starting a recovery high school. So we do have
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  Speaker 3: a council for that as well. If anybody's interested on
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  Speaker 3: joining along. But that's in the works. It's down the road,
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  Speaker 3: but it's starting to make some progress and moves they're
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  Speaker 3: being made, which is really.
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  Speaker 2: Cool to see.
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  Speaker 1: Recovery high School, Now that's interesting. What exactly is that?
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  Speaker 3: So? You know, lately we've gotten quite a few calls
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  Speaker 3: about kids in high school, our grade school that are
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  Speaker 3: drinking or even using drugs or where.
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  Speaker 2: Do the parents go to get them help?
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  Speaker 3: So what it would be is like our recovery coaches
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  Speaker 3: could step in and unite support them through the substance
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  Speaker 3: use portion of it, but then they would go instead
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  Speaker 3: of high school, they would go to the recovery high
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  Speaker 3: school and kind of rotate. You see a recovery coach,
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  Speaker 3: you'll see a counselor we're teaming up with Tennessippi, so
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  Speaker 3: they'll provide that those services. You'll see, you'll do the
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  Speaker 3: education portion, which the ROE is tagging along to kind
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  Speaker 3: of navigate that part of it, but they continue to
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  Speaker 3: get their diploma and participate in school instead of sabotaging
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  Speaker 3: and dropping out of high school and whatnot.
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  Speaker 1: I absolutely love this idea. I think most folks when
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  Speaker 1: they think recovery and people's you know, struggle with addiction.
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  Speaker 1: They think of people kind of later in life, at
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  Speaker 1: least definitely after high school, right sure. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And the thing about it is like a majority of
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  Speaker 3: the time, when I'm speaking to somebody or they're asking
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  Speaker 3: for help and I ask them when they started using,
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  Speaker 3: they will tell me it was early teens, you know,
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  Speaker 3: they took their first drink, they had their full smoke,
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  Speaker 3: or try their first does most of the time, majority
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  Speaker 3: of the time start there, but it does also start
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  Speaker 3: in adulthood as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I feel like we're hearing more
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  Speaker 1: and more this kind of prevalence with the with the
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  Speaker 1: younger generation, kind of this being a problem earlier. Not
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  Speaker 1: that you know, teens experimenting with with with underage drinking
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  Speaker 1: and smoking has always been a thing, but now you've
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  Speaker 1: got the prevalence of these you know, these synthetic drugs
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  Speaker 1: and things that are unregulated available at gas stations, and
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  Speaker 1: it's just kind of really exploding the problem.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, you know.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm not knocking any high school or grade school
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  Speaker 3: for not knowing what to do, but it's just an
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  Speaker 3: area that they don't usually focus on. So that's where
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  Speaker 3: we want to kind of step in and assist or
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  Speaker 3: you know, if there's something they want to bring to
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  Speaker 3: the table. I want everybody to join in, give their opinions,
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  Speaker 3: their insight, and let's all grow this together.
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  Speaker 2: It'll be good for our community, it's good for the youth.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, well.
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  Speaker 1: I'm really glad that you all are thinking about this
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  Speaker 1: and being proactive and being a resource, because because you're
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  Speaker 1: right now, the schools they're they're busy trying to focus
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  Speaker 1: on the kids' education. You know, they know there's these instances,
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  Speaker 1: but it's it's not what they're they're kind of there
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  Speaker 1: for right So to have this and for you guys
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  Speaker 1: to be so proactive about this is really amazing and
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be a tremendous resource to the community.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, super exciting, Jake, Is there anything else that we
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  Speaker 3: want to squeeze in about events?
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  Speaker 2: Our Easter egg hunts.
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  Speaker 3: It'll be our second year of hosting the Easter egg hunts.
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  Speaker 2: What are the days, Jake?
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  Speaker 4: They are April eleventh, Well.
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  Speaker 3: So the one in rock Ball at Kitty's House I
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  Speaker 3: hope will be April eleventh, that noon, and then the one.
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  Speaker 2: In Decal will be the twelfth at noon.
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  Speaker 3: We'll also put flyers out on our Facebook, So if
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  Speaker 3: you guys go on there, make sure you like and
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  Speaker 3: follow it.
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  Speaker 2: You'll be able to follow.
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  Speaker 3: And see different groups we have going on in different
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  Speaker 3: events that we have. And again, all of our events
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  Speaker 3: are free.
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  Speaker 2: It's free.
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  Speaker 3: Bring your family, bring your kids, bring your significant other.
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  Speaker 3: We just want everybody to come and you know, have
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  Speaker 3: a good time.
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  Speaker 1: And if anybody out there listening wants any more information
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  Speaker 1: or has some questions about that or anything else we've
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  Speaker 1: talked about today, what's the best way.
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  Speaker 3: To do that, so they can always message us on
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  Speaker 3: Facebook or just give us a call at the office.
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  Speaker 3: The office number is seven seven nine seven zero seven
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  Speaker 3: zero one five one.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there you go, folks, you've got the number. We
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  Speaker 1: all have Facebook. So if you have any questions or
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  Speaker 1: if you want to get involved with anything that, give
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  Speaker 1: them a call. They will. They'll they'll help you out
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  Speaker 1: and help be a part of your community. You cannot
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  Speaker 1: you know, I always say, nobody really has a right
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  Speaker 1: to complain about something if they're not willing to be
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  Speaker 1: a part of the solution. You know, you guys are
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  Speaker 1: focused on that, and you are providing avenues for the
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  Speaker 1: community to come and join you.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely absolutely, and I appreciate that because I agree
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  Speaker 3: as well. It's it's good to have an opinion, but
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  Speaker 3: also when you're not doing anything with it or even
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  Speaker 3: joining in, it's Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Lauren Jacob, thank you so much, not only for coming
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  Speaker 1: and sharing all this information, but for the wonderful work
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  Speaker 1: that that your organization is doing and that you've made
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  Speaker 1: it your your your mission to do. I really thank you,
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  Speaker 1: and I know everybody else out there listening is very
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  Speaker 1: appreciative as well.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Recover Real Thanks guys, you have a good one.
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  Speaker 2: YouTube Randon. Thanks