Big Groundbreaking festivities today at Andy’s Place. Phase 2 is ready to ramp up with plenty of dignitaries on hand. The shovels and hard hats are ready, Mike Hirst is excited to get Phase 2 going.
“Thursday you know we have the groundbreaking for a phase two of Andy’s place and love the lieutenant governor he’ll be there speaking Elizabeth Hertell Health Harold the Department of Health and Human Services director and Congressman Wahlberg and Senator Schink and Kathy Schmaltz, Sarah Lightner and Angela Whitwer all there to say a little they’ve all had something to do with pushing this project along so so they’re all gonna say a little something about the project and yeah we’re just excited as we can be Greg.”
“So this process is all party lines?”
“Absolutely it’s it’s all about American people here and we come in all different you know backgrounds and races and religions and political affiliations but we’re also from the same thing so we’re all working together on this project and you know it’s been absolutely fantastic to work with both sides and see everybody come together for something so positive for the Jackson Community they well they appropriated 3 million for that and then we also from the federal government got us a big Grant and from the state of Michigan we also had another 500 thousand dollar Grant from. “
Area State Senator Sue Shink will be part of the program.
“I was able to get three million dollars in the budget for Andy’s place and this is out of some funds that were set aside that we set aside specifically for treating opioid addictions and I have more to say about opioid addictions but in terms of Andy’s place I think most people already know about Annie’s Place it’s it’s an amazing place where people who are in drug recovery courts can go and actually live with their families and get the help that they need this phase 2 is going to take people that aren’t in drug recovery courts so get people before they’re in drug recovery Court they have to be referred by another another organization that is helping them and then they’ll get the help that they need. When I then when I have been out talking to people or when I was working in County government opioid addiction is it doesn’t know any Financial barriers and it people have become addicted through a variety of routes a lot of them because their doctors prescribed opioids and they became addicted and so we need to do everything that we can to help.”
State Representative Kathy Schmaltz is a longtime Mike Hirst supporter.
“It’s 1.6 billion in opioid settlement funds and they’re supposed to be used for addiction recovery resources overdose prevention public awareness but the commission has been critical of how the state is using the money but right now we need transparency and oversight and how the money is spent and the governor wants complete control with their own panel the Michigan opioid task force instead of the commission the legislature established. So it’s more we just want transparency we want to make sure the money goes to the right place I would rather not have lawmakers decide this and people who actually deal with the opioid problem and addiction to make the decisions and how this money should be used I think that’s important, More than 3,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2023.”
Mike Hirst shares details on what phase 2 is all about.
“You know we’re just really excited you know it’s going to add 11 more 2 bedroom apartments and 50 more single bedroom apartments and on the stage you will not have to go through the treatment court right now everybody’s in the treatment Court that’s out there and you know we talked about that and said you know how about we try to catch these people before they get in the system yeah you know about catching before they get that felony behind their name that’s gonna follow them the rest of their life so get them in a program they’re doing really good they’ll be referred to Andy’s place and to continue on with their recovery.”