Transport van donated to Granite Pathways by Members First Credit Union

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Gov. Chris Sununu checks out the new passenger van donated to Granite Pathways by Members First Credit Union. Photo/Pat Grossmith

MANCHESTER, NH – When Members First Credit Union received a $112,000 dividend, the result of the merger of a couple of insurance funds, its board of directors decided to donate it all to charities.

Bruce B. Leighton, President and CEO, said the board wanted to give all of it away – the only credit union in the nation to do so – and decided to give back to the community.

The focus became youth at risk and the opioid crisis with the board designating $50,000 to Safe Station and another $50,000 to MPAL (Manchester Police Athletic League).  That left $12,000 but the board decided to up that to $30,000 so that Granite Pathways, which operates the Youth Treatment Center at the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center, could get a van to transport the youth to various activities.

On Thursday, May 9, Gov. Chris Sununu,  Granite Pathways staff and others gathered at the center to check out the 12-passenger 2018 Ford Transit 350 that was purchased and for the obligatory photos with an oversized check.

The van is already in service.  It was needed to take the kids to recreational and educational activities and even Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, among other events.

Patricia Reid, state director for Granite Pathways, said the treatment center opened last November and as of this weekend, six youths will be receiving treatment.

Four of them got the opportunity to talk to and shake hands with the Governor, who greeted them warmly.

Reid said the treatment program has an intense medical component and intense focus on family.

“It’s the whole person approach, focusing on each individual kid,” she said.

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The new Granite Pathways fan was immediate put to use transporting youths in recovery. Photo/Pat Grossmith

Lorene Zammuto, MSN, RN, executive director of the treatment center, gave the governor, New Hampshire’s “Drug Czar” David Mara, who is a Members board member, Leighton and others a guided tour of the facility.

She said it is staffed with medical personnel 24 hours a day and that it is able to do admissions 24 hours a day as well. Medical and primary care is available on site each day.

The facility, which treats children ages 12 to 18, has a multi-purpose room with a computer lab which also serves as a classroom.  

Zammuto said those being treated don’t have a particular drug of choice, although all of them have used marijuana.

“They are poly-substance users, anything they can really get their hands on,” she said.  She said a few were opiate users, everyone was vaping and others were taking prescription pills.

Bedroom accommodations for the boys and girls are separate, with the boys’ wing known as Unity and the girls’, Serenity.

Furnishings were donated by the community.  Sununu noted the outdated television and said he could get a new one for the facility.

With spring finally here, Zammuto said there is a need for sports equipment.

For the most part, it is a kid’s first encounter with recovery.  So when treatment is complete, but before a kid leaves, staff will accompany them to an AA meeting – if a 12-step program resonates with him – in their community, meet friends and help him find a sponsor.

It is to be certain that the youth is comfortable with the setting, she explained.

Some kids will leave the treatment center and head to a long-term residential facility and some will go back home to their parents. One youth, she said, was reunited with his mother, who he hadn’t lived with from the time he was 4 years old.

“There is lots and lots of family work,” she explained.

 

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Pat Grossmith

Pat Grossmith is a freelance reporter.