Hope for N.H. Recovery staffer Holly Cekala seems to feel at home in Franklin, where a new recovery center will open Wednesday.
While other communities have expressed sentiments of “Not In My Back Yard” toward the recovery center, Cekala said Franklin welcomed it with open arms.
Cekala, the center’s director of recovery, said this coincided with meeting a lot of Franklin families who sought help at the Manchester Hope for N.H. Recovery center.
“I find the Franklin folks have done so much with so little for so long,” she said Friday. “Hope (for N.H. Recovery) wants the underdog to make it – that’s what we do.”
People will get to celebrate the completion of the project at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, when Hope for N.H. Recovery will hold its “grand opening” in Franklin.
Whether at the formal event or not, Cekala and the new center’s manager, Kimberly Shepard (who also manages the Concord center), welcome all to come in.
“We need the community to come out and use our space,” Cekala said. It’s not a treatment center, but a place for people with a history of addiction, family members and anyone in the community to find resources.
During its regular 9 to 5 hours, peer recovery coaches and telephone recovery support will be available to make referrals. Cekala said the space is also available past those hours for 12-step programs, art classes and any other organizations that want to offer support or opportunities.
The success of the center, she said, is dependent on the community’s willingness to be involved. In addition to grants and donations, a large chunk of funding for the center comes through a “workplace initiative program,” where local businesses give funds in return for a workplace service plan.
In return for their money, Cekala said, those businesses can benefit from increased productivity, lower turnover and fewer absences from employees.
“I’m very, very excited about that opening,” Mayor Ken Merrifield said Friday. While the Franklin Mayor’s Drug Task Force mostly focuses on prevention and education, he said the recovery piece has been missing, at least until now.
“I think more and more people acknowledging that folks who are struggling need help from their community,” he said.
Franklin Police Chief David Goldstein fervently agreed, noting his department doesn’t have the resources to provide referrals or other help.
“I can’t emphasize how good this is,” he said. “I’ve had parents come in my office and cry because the best I could offer is the emergency room at the hospital. This makes life so much better for people who need the help, and for us.”
Franklin Fire Chief Kevin LaChapelle called the new center “wonderful” in light of a surge of opioid overdose deaths and incidents in 2015.
“In 2015, there were 7 overdose-related deaths,” he said. There were also about 50 administrations of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan.
“It’s a spike,” LaChapelle said. “We’ve never seen that many deaths related to overdoses that I know of in my 20 years here.”
One of the center’s new neighbors, Colcord Auto Body co-owner Mike Colcord, Jr., is happy for the new resource too. He said he’s been in addiction recovery for three years himself.
“When I got sober, there wasn’t anything for anybody here,” Colcord said. Referring to the new center, he added, “Things happen for a reason.”
On Friday, the community’s support was on full display.
Cekala and other volunteers bustled around the Central Street building putting the finishing touches on what has been a $40,000 effort helped along by many.
“This was a shell of a building,” Cekala said. “There was nothing here.”
They cleaned the bathrooms and swept the floors in a space that has been given to them rent-free for a year by landlord Larry Dunn. They wove between dozens of donated chairs, walked underneath donated fluorescent lights installed to free services provided by Franklin electrician Scott Stanley.
Cekela’s husband, Raymond, did most of the construction, and Merrimack County Department of Corrections superintendent Ross Cunningham brought work crews to perform community service.
Cekela said yet more help came from local Franklin residents and businesses like TD Bank, Franklin Savings Bank and Big Jim’s Home Center in Concord.
Lakes Region Hospital got the ball rolling, offering $25,000 to start a community center in the area.
“It’s been quite the community collaboration,” Cekala said. The only hiccup has been the building inspection.
“I’ll tell you what – that Franklin inspector, nice guy, but he’s spot on,” Cekala said, smiling. In all seriousness, she added, “Franklin is a pretty stellar place.”
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)