Marion County Sheriff's 'Hope One' Partners Honored For Efforts To Deal With Opioid Epidemic

From the Morris County Government:

Hope One Partners Honored for Efforts to Deal with Opioid Epidemic

Posted Friday, December 27th, 2019

Freeholder Boards Lauds Participants for their Dedication

The Morris County Board of Freeholders, along with Sheriff James M. Gannon and state Sen. Anthony Bucco recently honored the Sheriff’s Hope One Program partners, who have worked closely with the Sheriff’s mobile addictions and recovery team to deal with the opioid epidemic in Morris County.

Hope One was honored earlier this year by the International Association of Police Chiefs (IAPC), receiving the 2019 Security Industry Association’s Leadership Award at an event in Chicago. Hope One’s nonprofit partners, who have helped make the program a success, received their IACP awards during a special ceremony at the Board of Freeholders’ Dec. 23 meeting in Morristown.

The awards were presented by IACP Past President Chief Paul Cell, a 39-year police veteran who until recently headed the world’s largest association of police leaders, serving members in more than 150 countries.

“We are honoring Hope One program partners who have worked closely with the Sheriff’s team to deal with addictions and substance use in our county, and who have tried to make a difference in so many lives,” said Freeholder Director Doug Cabana. “This program and their work is a prime example of the county’s Stigma-Free initiative that fosters treatment and recovery for persons stuggling with addiction.”

Some of the Hope One partners also received county resolutions from the Board of Freeholders and legislative citations from Sen. Bucco. Hope One partners included:

• Daytop-NJ
• Prevention is Key
• Family Promise
• CARES
• Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris
• Morris County Department of Human Services

Also honored were Sheriff’s Corporal Erica Valvano, who is the coordinator of the Hope One program, and Sheriff’s Senior Systems Analyst Russ Moser for his work in providing official identification for Hope One participants — some of whom are homeless — and who required identification to be able to access government services and programs.

This press release was produced by the Morris County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.