Hammer and Hope combines a crackdown on drug activity with an event that makes residents aware of substance abuse, mental health, and housing support services.
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Sheriff Michelle Cook brought her Hammer and Hope program to the Lake Region on Monday, March 21 in the parking lot of Keystone’s First Baptist Church.
The initiative combines a crackdown on drug activity with an event that makes residents aware of substance abuse, mental health, and housing support services.
“We cannot arrest our way out of our drug problem,” Cook said during the event. “We have 25 service providers here. You can get anything from health screenings to Narcan.”
Cook added that later in the day, she was accompanying deputies on executing arrest and search warrants in the Lake Region.
“The hammer is putting people in jail,” she said, “but as a community we also have to have hope, and the hope pathway is for people and families who want and need help.”
Cook’s first Hammer and Hope event was last year in Clay Hill in which her agency hosted community service providers and also made 52 drug-related arrests in rural northwest Clay County.
Stephanie Isom of Changing Homelessness, which helps veterans find housing.Stephanie Geoghagan and Donna Wethington of the Clay Action Coalition, which is a community anti-drug coalition that provides drug abuse prevention education. During Hammer and Hope the pair gave out information about treatment providers and recovery services in Clay County. They also gave away Deterra drug deactivation kits that can be used to get rid of unused medicines and Narcan which can be used to treat opioid overdoses.Carey Morford, Pastor of Mission of the Dirt Road said her church recently restarted community classes. The church also launched a youth development program in January which rewards participants with a trip if the participants meet predetermined goals. The program also matches each student with a mentor.The sheriff’s office released these photos of its first Hammer and Hope warrant in High Ridge Estates, which it said resulted in the seizure of cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and three firearms.Billy Jackson and Tanya Dennis of Lake Area Ministries. Dennis said many people don’t realize that in addition to giving away food, the ministry also distributes pet food and personal hygiene products. She also said the organization serves residents of Bradford County who live east or south of Hope Baptist Church and residents of Putnam County, in addition to Keystone Heights-area residents.Jolynn Carter and Brandi Tubbs of Mercy Support Services. The nonprofit has a rapid rehousing program and a self-sufficiency program that helps prevent homelessness. The group is also building Mercy Village on College Drive near Orange Park which will consist of 65 housing units for the nonprofit’s clients.
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