Winchester recovery center to hold outreach event in Lexington

New Day Recovery Center in Winchester is counting down the days until a free resource event it will host in Lexington in August.

We caught up with three people taking the lead as this initiative inches closer.

"Somebody can't decide if they want help if they're not alive."

That is Odell Hager's message inside and outside of the doors at New Day Recovery.

"The message is that we're all here for you."

Hager, the center's community outreach coordinator, is preparing for a free event called "In This Together" at Jacobson Park.

It's open to those battling addiction, experiencing homelessness and anyone dealing with mental health issues.

"We just wanted to do something for the community that was not one specific thing, like addiction or something, this way it's many different resources throughout Kentucky."

Hager is in recovery after 16 active years of addiction and has been planning this community resource bash for about four and a half months.

He has a street outreach team that does harm reduction, trying to meet with people in every county in Kentucky.

"Been spending a lot of time in Fayette County in Kentucky and that's one of the reasons we wanted to hold the event there."

Nathan Thomas from Perfect Imperfections, who works in Lexington and Richmond as a peer support manager and outreach coordinator, will also help with the event.

Simply put, Thomas says this is about bringing the community together.

"End the stigma of addiction and isolating people considered addicts towards the entire community, let people know that there's help from all different types of areas," said Thomas.

Christiana Ashcraft, a New Day worker and Winchester lead for young people in recovery, works in substance abuse counseling, helping people take the steps necessary to succeed.

"It could be just needing somebody to talk to and listen just because you're struggling and don't know which way to go, we're gonna have resources for everything," said Ashcraft.

Those resources will be at Jacobson Park for a kid-friendly, adult-friendly event next month with this in mind.

"No matter what, there's help out there. It's a chance to know that you can recover."

The money raised from the event will go to the Charles Young Center and Nathaniel Mission, which help troubled youth and assist with afterschool and summer programs.

In This Together is scheduled for August 4 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Jacobson Park, shelter #7.