"Gemeinschaft" Means Community For Ex-Offenders

As a long time Gemeinschaft Home supporter and a board member, I’m urging each of you to attend the special fundraiser dinner for this re-entry and recovery program, as follows:

You are cordially invited to attend 

Gemeinschaft Home’s Annual Appreciation Dinner 

Saturday, April 21, 2012 Eastern Mennonite High School 

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. for hors d’œuvre Meal begins at 6 p.m. 

Speaker: John Butler, Harrisonburg, Gemeinschaft graduate

RSVP by Monday, April 17, 2012 Megan at 434-1690 or e-mail at meganb@gemeinschafthome.com 

I am unable to attend, however, I affirm the mission and work of Gemeinschaft Home. Please accept my/our gift of: 

❑$25 ❑$50 ❑$100 ❑$500 ❑$1,000 ❑ $_____ 

Here are some of the reasons you should attend!

• John Butler, a fellow board member and a graduate of Gemeinschaft, will share his own inspirational story of how, after four previous tries at achieving sobriety, he finally got his life together with help from this program.

• A member of the board will thank loyal local supporters for their generous gifts and interest free loans which made possible the recent installation of a new furnace and water heating system which will save the Home thousands in utility costs.

• You will see a power point presentation that shows how resident evaluations of the program have improved dramatically over the past year, thanks to a new and dedicated program staff led by Kirk Saunders.

• Kirk, also a graduate of Gemeinschaft (and of JMU’s Masters in Counseling program) will highlight how group and individual sessions at the Home are helping residents achieve sobriety and become more responsible citizens, and why he has turned down attractive job offers at state institutions because of his dedication to our program.

• Last but not least, there is the great food (!), prepared by another Gemeinschaft graduate and our current chef, Keith Ridley.

Thanks for registering ASAP, and please invite your friends to do so! And check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GemeinschaftHome.

We're All Being Robbed

Just two weeks ago, on an otherwise uneventful Saturday afternoon, the Medicap Pharmacy across the highway from our little suburb was robbed by two armed men. They came not for cash but for pain killers like Dilaudid and oxycodone, and left with over a $1000 worth of them. Pharmacist Mel Anderson and one of his employees were bound and forced into a back room where they were able to get the license number and description of the men’s vehicle, and the two perpetrators were jailed two days later.

Addiction to prescription drugs has reached epidemic proportions in this country, a problem made worse by prescription medications being marketed constantly on TV and in other media. These ads, paid for by drug companies who are making huge profits from increased sales, promise a sure fix for depression, anxiety, erectile dysfunction and for whatever ails us, adding to the mindset that there is a pill for every problem.

People who get hooked on the effects of opiates like those contained in products like Percocet and OxyContin will do almost anything to satisfy their addictions. Aside from stealing them, some go to hospital emergency rooms on weekends or evenings after hours and complain of a severe tooth ache, kidney stones, or other conditions, and leave with a prescription they either use themselves or sell on the streets for a profit. And some physicians are all too willing to prescribe such drugs for people who seek help for real or faked chronic pain.

In 2009, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 16 million Americans age 12 and older had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant, or sedative for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed. A NIDA-funded 2010 Monitoring the Future study in 2010 showed that 2.7% of 8th graders, 7.7% of 10th graders, and 8.0% of 12th graders had abused Vicodin and 2.1% of 8th graders, 4.6% of 10th graders, and 5.1% of 12th graders had abused OxyContin for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

Here are some ways we all might help address the problem:

1. Limit our personal use of pills to a bare minimum, and focus on preventive medicine and more healthy lifestyles as our preferred ways of feeling better.

2. Teach our children by word and example that happiness can’t be found in a bottle, and that there are no quick fixes or easy solutions for everyday life problems.

3. Insist on legislators banning all media advertising of prescription drugs, already the case in most countries.  Our  lawmakers are subject to intense lobbying by drug companies to maintain the status quo.

4. Promote having a special Drug Court in every jurisdiction to respond to crimes involving misuse of both prescription and illegal drugs. Such courts are already in place in many urban areas.

 5. Provide drug treatment programs for non-violent offenders instead of overcrowding our prisons with more and more our addicted population at a cost to us taxpayers of over $26,000 a year per inmate (in Virginia), enough to pay for a year of college.

Our present approach to drug problems isn’t working. And it’s robbing all of us.

The Startling Story of the Stolen Stihl

I gave myself the gift of a brand new chain saw a year and a half ago, a smooth running Stihl 250. Until then I had always gotten by with a used one for cutting our annual supply of firewood, first a faithful Homelite and later a secondhand Stihl aptly named “Farm Boss.”  When that one finally breathed its last, I heeded the advice of family members who urged me to get a new one.
    Just before Christmas last year we had one of the heaviest snow storms ever. Soon thereafter, on a cold day while I was at work, a friendly stranger came to our door and asked my wife if he could shovel out our lower drive--for a modest fee. Among other things, he explained, he had just been awarded visitation of his ten-year-old son and needed some extra cash to buy him some things for Christmas.
    While my kindhearted spouse had never met the man before, he seemed pleasant enough, and we did need more parking space cleared for holiday guests. So why not have him remove the snow, she thought, to surprise me and to do a needy person a favor? “Just return the shovel to the utility room when you’re finished,” she said, “and I’ll have your money waiting for you there in an envelope.”
    Meanwhile, she went about her work and only occasionally checked to see how he was doing. A phone call she received near the time he was finishing prevented her from actually seeing him leave, but when she checked everything out, found the shovel back in its place and the payment gone, she felt satisfied that all was well. And excused herself for the extra generous payment she had left for him. After all, it was Christmas.
    When I came home that evening and learned about my wife's surprise move, I assured her it was fine. Whether or not his story was entirely true, I figured, it's better to err on the side of generosity.
    It was not until the next morning that I discovered my new chain saw, stored in the aforementioned utility room and with the word "stihl" emblazoned on it in bold letters, was missing. Just plain gone, nowhere to be found.
    My wife was devastated, in spite of my assurances that a chain saw was quite replaceable, and that she needn’t be hard on herself. I also promised I would report the missing saw in case it showed up in a pawn shop somewhere and could be recovered. “Maybe I just loved my new toy a little too much,” I joked.
    Much to our surprise, the sheriff’s deputy assigned to the case showed up with the stolen Stihl the very next day, on Christmas Eve. “Here’s your saw,” he said, “Merry Christmas. And the gentleman who took it will be spending his holiday in jail.” Which seemed fair enough, though we couldn't help feeling sorry for anyone having to be behind bars at this special time of the year.
    But the story doesn’t end there. Since then, we have had a series of conversations and an exchange of letters with our unexpected friend. We learned he has earned the position of “trusty” in his jail pod and is scheduled to be released December 24, exactly a year after being locked up for stealing my Stihl.
    In a recent letter he wrote, “Yes, it's a blessing to be leaving here on Christmas Eve. It makes me feel special to know God has plans for me.”
    Among those plans is to spend his first months of freedom at Gemeinschaft Home, a local recovery and re-entry program for ex-offenders, subject to our being able to raise at least $500 toward his first month's stay.
    Our new friend, along with so many others who have ever been incarcerated, face the doubly daunting task of finding a job, a decent place to live and the kind of treatment and support network they need to remain free of their addictions.
    I say, "God bless them every one."

P. S. As a strong believer in the mission of Gemeinschaft Home and a member of its board, I urge you to become a "Friend of Gemeinschaft" by writing a check of $50 or more and mailing it to Gemeinschaft Home, 1423 Mt. Clinton Pike, Harrisonburg, VA 22802. Or you can contribute online at http://www.gemeinschafthome.com to help this and other persons get a new start.
     Note: Since our new friend will not be on parole when he is released, he is ineligible for state funding for his stay, but hopes to get a job and pay his own way as soon as possible.
     Thanks for your help!