MANCHESTER, NH – Melissa Fortin Crews will be a special guest at the Jan. 12 State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C., as a guest of Congressman Frank Guinta, R-NH.
According to a post on Crews’ Facebook page, “I will be there wearing my purple proudly.”
Guinta, along with U.S. Rep. Ann Kuster, D-NH, have been collaborating in Washington by forming a bi-partisan task force to address the heroin crisis, as well as putting forth legislation to help replicate best practices, and provide funding to communities in crisis.
“The Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic applauds her efforts to help Granite Staters recover from addiction. She, her husband Andrew, and philanthropist Dick Anagnost, are developing a Manchester location to provide more services — at Ground Zero of our state’s heroin epidemic,” Guinta said via his Facebook page.
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Just last week Kriss Blevens attended a Congressional Special Order session called for by Guinta and Kuster, to share the story of frustration and loss surrounding her step-daughter’s addiction, which ultimately ended with a fatal heroin overdose.
Crews, who has been a mighty force in the trenches of addiction recovery and treatment as a board member for Hope for NH Recovery, wrote about what she has learned in the past year, as Manchester became the first community in the state to launch a peer-to-peer community recovery center:
“I have been thinking of all of the thousands and thousands of hours that have gone into pushing this giant boulder to the place it is today. Because of the sacrifices and generosity of hundreds of volunteers and staff before me, that have fanned this Friends of Recovery/HOPE for NH Recovery flame (and there are way too many to list), we now have the opportunities to spread the peer recovery magic, and help people make the connections necessary to build on their recovery.
“I have not met all of you yet, but I pray that I do so that I can personally thank you for keeping FOR/HOPE alive all these years. Without you, we would not be here today. As I sit there tonight I will particularly be thinking of those that we have lost along the way. Yes, those we have lost to addiction, definitely, but also those recovery warriors we have lost. People like Madeline Demeule, whom I never had the privilege to meet, and Dave Doiron my champion and cheerleader. But the memory that keeps me going more than anything is my very good friend Tricia, who lost her fight as she waited eagerly to volunteer in a center that I believe would have saved her life, just as it did mine.
“Peer support works. People need to learn how to have fun. Peer to peer support works, wherever you find it. I’ll never stop telling that story, I hope you won’t either.
