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Candlelight Vigil for those Touched by Addiction Dec. 27 in Walled Lake
(EVENT page)
What an honor it has been to serve our community throughout 2016.  To date, we hosted 11 monthly public forums in an effort to educate our community and connect individuals to resources.  There is no greater reward than seeing families healed and loved ones transitioning into recovery from the throes of addiction.
We are excited to wrap up the year by hosting our First Annual Candleight Vigil on December 27th at Market Street Church 309 W. Market Street, Walled Lake, MI.  This will also be our last FAN meeting/public forum at Market Street Church.  In January 2017, we will be moving our FAN meetings to the 2nd Wednesday of each month to Grace Community Church in Commerce.  Please see the flyers below for more information.
The addition of our Program Director, Denise Mahnick has allowed us to build the momentum we needed to raise awareness and eliminate stigma about the disease of addiction.   With the help of leaders like our Surgeon General, the conversation is changing and additudes about addiction appear to be softeng at times. In November,  Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A..issued the first ever Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health to review what we know about substance misuse and how you can use that knowledge to address it and its related consequences.  (Read the Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health HERE).   As more people come to understand that addiction is a disease, we hope that compassion will grow and stigma will be eliminated.
Our team of amazing of volunteers work tirelessly to this end.  They contribute their time and expertise  to bring awareness, support and programming to everyone who reaches out for help.  Thank you Liz Martin – Vice President, Andrew Bartman – Secretary, Janine Feinberg – Treasurer, and Advisory Committee members Wendy Cox, Sandi Bonimici and Ashley Gray.  We simply could not do this without you.
We move into 2107 with lofty goals and a steadfast determination to serve our neighbors.   2017 promises to be an incredible year filled with events in our communities and programs in our schools.  A main focus for our Program Director, Denise Mahnick will be to engage members from the various sectors of our community and build our team of board members and advisory committee members.   She has already made great advancements with the administration of Walled Lake Schools, the Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, and numerous other members of our communities.  If you are interested in joining our coalition, please call or email Denise at 248-890-4168 or denise@lakesareacc.org.
We hope to see you at the Candlelight Vigil on December 27th and look forward to serving you in 2017!
For more info: http://www.lakesareacc.org/
Kristen Quinn
President
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