Conference-Related Ministry (CRM) Care & Share Thrift Shoppes (Souderton, PA) is responding to community needs by taking steps to help prevent drug overdoses and reduce stigma for individuals living with substance use disorder.
Care & Share partnered with CRM St. Luke’s Penn Foundation and the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission to install two Overdose Emergency Kits in its shoppes in April.
Each kit is temperature-controlled and located in a publicly accessible space. They contain 4-6 doses of Narcan, CPR mask shields, and other resources.
“By installing these kits within our Shoppes, we are increasing access to a tool that can help prevent deaths by drug overdoses.” says Sarah Bergin, Executive Director of the Care & Share Thrift Shoppes.
Ryan Schweiger, Community Outreach Specialist for St. Luke’s Penn Foundation provided an educational training on Narcan to the Care & Share staff. “An overdose can happen to someone using drugs illicitly, and it can also happen to someone who is prescribed opioid pain medications for medical purposes,” Schweiger said. “Many factors play into the risk for overdose, and Care & Share is in a position in the community to care for the community.”
In March 2023, youth pastors from the Lansdale, PA Mosaic Youth Formation cluster also met at Penn Foundation to learn more about responding to community needs to prevent drug overdoses.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.