Giving Back in Greenfield – 3rd Annual Toy Drive

Giving Back in Greenfield – 3rd Annual Toy Drive

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GREENFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The City of Greenfield is working to make sure no child in the city wakes up on Christmas morning without gifts under the tree.

The 3rd annual “Giving Back in Greenfield” toy drive has officially started. The city is asking for new and/or gently used donated toys for children 17 years or younger. The toys can be dropped off at the Recover Project at 68 Federal Street. Visit the “Giving Back in Greenfield” Facebook page for more information.

The week of Christmas, families who are unable to afford gifts for their children, can come pick out donations at the Recover Project.

22News is also accepting toys starting on November 28th for Toys for Tots. Click Here to find out how to donate or request a toy.

Click HERE to watch the video from WWLP.

Giving Back in Greenfield – 3rd Annual Toy Drive

The them are now us

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg visited the RECOVER Project on Federal Street Wednesday for a roundtable discussion on addiction.

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg visited the RECOVER Project on Federal Street Wednesday for a roundtable discussion on addiction.

By TOM RELIHAN
Recorder Staff
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

GREENFIELD — Despite a coordinated push over the last few years to increase substance abuse support and recovery services in Franklin County, there are still some holes in the net.

State Senate President Stanley Rosenberg heard from members of the local recovery community and the regional Opioid Task Force Wednesday afternoon about exactly which ones they’d like him to focus on plugging up during the next legislative term at a roundtable discussion at The RECOVER Project…

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Giving Back in Greenfield – 3rd Annual Toy Drive

RECOVER Project Director Overcame Addiction

Michael Lewis, Director of the Recover Project in Greenfield, talks with a member.

Michael Lewis, Director of the Recover Project in Greenfield, talks with a member.

By Dan Desrosiers
For The Recorder
Friday, April 15, 2016

Michael Lewis, director of the RECOVER Project in Greenfield, hasn’t even been able to get his coat off, and he has been at work for a half-hour already. The women’s writing group needs to be let in and assisted; the chair arrangement in the back of the building has been considered a fire hazard and needs moving; the group’s temporary slogan “Got Recovery?” has a patent against it by another group, and now Lewis and his team must create another catchy line to earworm its way into the heads of those who need help.

All these issues and many others are what Lewis deals with on a daily basis. But these issues are nothing compared to the ones that he dealt with on his way to becoming the director of the RECOVER Project in Greenfield. “I had no job, and my friend was trying to starve me out of his house. I ran out of cocaine and was using crystal meth,” Lewis said. His friend’s house was in El Paso, Texas.

“I was crashing on my friend’s couch and blood was pouring out of my nose, and I just started crying at 3:30 in the morning,” Lewis said. “That’s when I knew I needed help.”

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People’s Medicine Project aids recovery through alternative medicine

People’s Medicine Project aids recovery through alternative medicine

GREENFIELD — Recovering from an addiction to alcohol or drugs is by no means a comfortable process. Just ask Kaitlyn John, a staff member at the RECOVER Project on Federal Street, which offers peer support for people recovering from substance abuse problems.

When she began her own journey toward recovery three and a half years ago, her body was in revolt. Coming off of an addiction to pain pills, she had problems with digestion, with sleeping, and many other symptoms — physically, mentally and spiritually.

“I wanted to have a comfort in my body, to just feel at one with my body,” John said. “It took me so long to get into recovery, to find recovery, and then to have all these internal things going on and to not feel comfortable in my own skin … that wasn’t OK with me.”

Through her involvement with the RECOVER Project, she was able to meet Leslie Chaison, a local herbalist who runs the People’s Medicine Project, a free alternative medicine clinic held on Mondays from noon to 4 p.m. in the RECOVER Project’s large back room.

The project offers alternative medicine in the form of herbalism, acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, craniosacral therapy and energy healing sessions, and John said taking part in it made all the difference in her recovery process…

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