Bus rally in Myrtle Beach supports those in recovery

MYRTLE BEACH S.C. (WBTW) — Community members and speakers gathered Monday at the Midtown Vineyard Church in Myrtle Beach for a rally to support those on a journey of recovery from substance abuse. for the Mobilize Recovery Rally.

The event sponsored by the Las Vegas-based nonprofit group Mobilize Recovery brought together speakers and officials from a variety of organizations to address the topic of recovery, provide mental health awareness and embrace those who are on their journey of recovery.

Aaron Kucharski, grassroots coordinator for Mobilize Recovery, said the goal was to help people wherever they are in their journey to recovery. He said their bus has traveled to 28 different events, 13 different states, 17 different cities and 250 local partner organizations while visiting jails, universities, recovery high schools, sober-living homes and more.

He said he was inspired by the number of people at Monday’s event and happy to know that Mobilize Recovery can help those living in Myrtle Beach.

Special guest speaker Michael Askew, deputy director of the Office of Recovery, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said his journey to recovery wasn’t easy.

“One day I woke up in a dark, isolated jail cell to the smell of stale body odor, wondering, ‘How did I get here again'” Askew said. “It was the sixth time that I had been in prison. That was May 28, 1989, and I’ve never gone back, never used drugs or alcohol.”

Sara Goldsby, director of the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, touched on the opioid epidemic during her speech and how there are nearly 400,000 South Carolinians in recovery.

“Because every day folks are beginning their own process of change and they’re beginning their journeys,” she said. “That’s due to thousands and thousands of folks like you across the state, helping them along the way, along their process of change. We’re very proud to be supporting some of that, along with our federal leaders.”

Goldsby said the state and federal partnership is critical because they administer the resources that get to the local organizations and communities.

“We are so proud of all of these things,” she said. “We’re setting expectations, that people with life experience as people in recovery themselves,” she said. “Coaches are in every place possible to relay outreach and in every place along the continuum of treatment and long term, getting people in recovery, helping people in recovery. We want that to remain strong, but we have a lot of work to do. We have a long way to go, and what we need more than ever is to build more momentum behind the universal recovery movement in South Carolina.”

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Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter , Facebook or Instagram , and read more of her work here .

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