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Ministry tries to raise awareness of opioid crisis

Will host event designed to provide solution to those addicted, families

YOUNGSTOWN — Free Indeed Prison Ministry is reaching out to the public to help raise awareness of the opioid addiction problem affecting many families.

Martha Conyer-Allen and Rev. Walter Allen, co-owners and CEOs of Free Indeed Prison Ministry, will host “Opioid Addiction Awareness and Violence Prevention with Solutions” 7 p.m. Thursday at Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church, 1210 Himrod Ave., with senior pastor J. Dwayne Heard.

Martha Conyer-Allen said she will share her own personal story as her 24-year-old grandson has struggled with heroin addiction and has been missing for six months.

She said people are able to relate to others who are going through something they themselves are, too.

Walter Allen said FIM wanted to hold the event a year ago because the opioid crisis has affected so many families.

“The idea to hold this was to address the opioid crisis and to provide help to people battling addiction and their families,” he said.

Conyer-Allen and Allen have spent more than 15 years visiting inmates at Ohio prisons and have seen the effects of the drug epidemic.

Allen said there are many people who need treatment even after they are released from prison and may still have an addiction. Conyer-Allen said the event is designed to provide solutions to those who are addicted and their families.

Guest speakers at the event are Drs. Jeremy Mashburn and Penelope Mashburn, who work at local hospitals in the Mahoning Valley. They will discuss their experiences helping patients and prescribing medications.

Topics of discussion will include opioid use and how it affects the current generation compared to prior generations and how communities can get involved to help decrease the number of people becoming addicted. There will be a question and answer session

The event, which is being sponsored by Woodforest National Bank, is open to the public. For registration, call 330-372-9737, or come the day of the event.

FIM was founded by the Allens and is a faith-based organization that supports inmates and their families and prepares them for re-entry into society.

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