(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Hope Council on Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse, Inc. in Kenosha, has been around for some 55 years. It has only been located at 6103 39th Ave for a few months. That was the reason for today’s celebration attended by more than 100 community members, leaders, dignitaries, staff, and volunteers. Guests were spoiled with snacks and dessert. Non-alcoholic beverages were also provided.
Executive Director Michelle Sandberg and her husband painted every inch of the building. “It’s actually a little smaller that our old building, but the layout works better for us,” Sandberg told KCE Thursday. “With the rise in overdoses and those seeking treatment for substance use disorders, our work is more important than ever before.”
Sandberg is happy that the organization was able to find a new building in the center of the City. Since the agency serves all of Kenosha County residents, it is now closer to clients on the west side of the county.
Hope Council provides many services, but among it’s biggest services is it’s assessment of impaired drivers. Any Kenosha County residents that are convicted of an OWI must report to the Hope Council for an assessment. Staff can read court records, police reports, ask questions of the clients, and look at past records. They then assess the client and place them into on five catagories:
Irresponsible Use – Education
Borderline Irresponsible Use – Education or Treatment
Suspected Dependency – Treatment
Substance Dependency – Treatment
Dependency Remission – Treatement
Hope council does not treat clients, but instead provides them with a long list of providers. Hope Council then becomes the gatekeeper for the clients to get their licenses back.
Hope Council is funded by donations and client fees. The clients must pay for the assessments and drug tests. There are also some small grants that get written, but the organization doesn’t have the capability to write for the larger federal grants. You can donate in person or online. Donations are tax-deductible.
Before Sandberg, Guida Brown was the executive director from 2009 – 2022. Brown still works for the agency part-time. Brown implemented a very popular and successful program to test folks for drugs. This is used in criminal and family courts. Don’t cut your hair off or try to bring in someone else’s urine. At the hope council, they take clippings of your fingernails and can detect drug use from up to six months before the test. This is very helpful for family court commissioners and judges to track usage or lack of drug usage for parents.
When asked about Sangberg, Brown’s successor, Brown said “if tonight’s open house turnout is any indication, Michelle sure is connected to the community. Michelle is very well equipped to do this job well and to bring this agency into its next era.”
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
and Shalome Center Director Tamara Coleman
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
8 Responses
If Antaramian is involved there is corruption
Hey look! Bob Wirch again. Must have been a free lunch at this diverse event.
Absolutely the same reaction. There he is!
Same with Barca….never missed a free meal or photo op…..fakest laugh known to man….
Barca looks like a masculine lesbian. He is worse than Ray Epps and will be remembered for opening a window at the State capitol and allowing the pieces of shit to occupy it, shit in it and vandalize it while Bob Wirch was hiding in Illinois. Where was the committee on these people like they did for January 6th?
I’d love to have all the toe nail clipping tested for all those “important” tax payer thieves before they’re allowed to do it to the general public. Wow! Community Leader David Arrington isn’t missing to many government grants is he? Is a gym membership in those grants too?
KM,
How about a new section in the site for kids and Kenosha News subscribers called “Where’s Wirch”? Similar to Where’s Waldo.
A cartoon map of Kenosha, Madison, Lake County where he can blend in with people trashing the Capitol during Act 10, blending in at recplex with a ?; on the grounds of the uLine that he claimed to bring to the area only to be publicly corrected by the Uhleins themselves; events where he knows there’s a free lunch and a photographer and/or amongst all of Lake County hiding from doing his elected position in the name of communism.
I like this idea. 🙂 There is a lot of comedy to be mined from local politics, and sometimes that’s a more effective communication tool.