Congressman Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, on Thursday announced the award of $355,858 he worked to secure for the Will Bright Foundation. The Will Bright Foundation is dedicated to helping people recover from opioid abuse. The award comes from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Aderholt said that the award is directly tied to the opioid roundtable in March of 2019 at Northwest Shoals Community College.
“While it has taken a backseat in the headlines because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic continues across the 4th Congressional District and across Alabama,” Aderholt said. “Congress specifically allocated these funds announced today, which are being administered by the Appalachian Rural Commission (ARC), to fight the scourge of opioid abuse because Appalachia is the region hit hardest by this epidemic.”
“In March of 2019, in partnership with the ARC, I hosted an opioid roundtable discussion at Northwest Shoals Community College,” Aderholt explained. “At this meeting, I introduced Lisa Bright to officials from ARC. They were impressed with her efforts, and the foundation she and her husband Bill created in their son’s memory, the Will Bright Foundation. The foundation helps individuals bridge the gap between addiction and taking the next steps beyond recovery, such as finding employment. This meeting led directly to the announcement today that the Will Bright Foundation, in partnership with the University of Alabama, will receive more than $500,000 from ARC and local partners to help its efforts in and around Fayette County to expand and enhance their recovery and worker training program for individuals coming out of opioid addiction. This has been a missing link for both employers in the region as well as those in recovery.”
“I’m proud to have played a role in securing these funds for such an important cause,” Aderholt said. “I’ve made a goal of my time in Congress to work to protect the most vulnerable among us. This includes those who have fallen into the downward spiral of opioid abuse. I know that Lisa and the Will Bright Foundation will use these funds to help many people recovering from opioid addiction as well as employers who need reliable workers.”
Bill and Lisa Bright wrote on their website, “Will was kind, caring, a friend to all and a drug addict. He tried so hard to overcome his addiction but when he left rehab he had nowhere to go to get a fresh start. He went back to drugs and died of a heroin overdose at age 25. He got into drugs at such an early age he really had no formal training of any kind and no more than a high school education. He did manage to get a job that worked him part time but that was not enough.”
“When you feel unworthy, drugs are an easy fix,” the Brights warned. “You are always one decision away from disaster. If you don’t have God in your heart and something here on earth that gives you some sense of value, life is not worth staying clean.”
According to their website, Restoration Springs is a remedy for recovery and not just a transitional place to stay. Here you will receive job training and assistance getting employment, as well as a place that allows you to be away from old influences and have accountability. This is a place where you can worship, work and find your God given purpose.
“Our mission is to fill a need in the central/west Alabama area for a secondary form of recovery. Sometimes, people who have completed a recovery program need assistance in taking that very important “next step”. This mission is being completed through Restoration Springs, our transitional center located in Fayette, Alabama. We call it “transitional” because our residents will be transitioning to a life not dominated by addiction!”
The Will Bright Foundation offers scholarships to those unable to afford intake fees to recovery centers; provides next step/transitional living, counseling, job readiness training and placement; and extends awareness, legislation and educational information on the Opioid Crisis through our Washington, DC Coalition Group, Voices for Non-Opioid Choices.
Congressman Robert Aderholt is serving in his thirteenth term representing Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
