RAW - Recovery All Ways

Okay, you guys!!

We each came home to boxes and bags of tampons after putting out our SOS, and we are seriously blown away 🥹

There’s something really special about asking for help for the people we serve and watching our friends, supporters, and community immediately show up. You made sure that when someone walks through our doors needing something as basic as a tampon, we can say, “Yep, we’ve got you.”

RAW exists because people keep choosing to take care of each other. Sometimes that looks like the big stuff, and sometimes it looks like a box of tampons showing up on your porch!

To everyone who sent something, dropped something off, shared the post, or helped spread the word, Thank you for showing up for our people. We are so grateful for you 🧡🤟🏽

Y’all… WE ARE OUT OF TAMPONS.
Not running low.
Not we should probably grab some soon.

And unfortunately, uteruses have refused to cooperate with our inventory situation. The AUDACITY right?!

So we need your help restocking!

Regular? YES!
Super? YES!
Super Plus? YES!
Ultra?! YESSSS!!
Variety packs? THROW ’EM AT US!
ALL SIZES AND BRANDS ARE WELCOME!!!

Period products are basic hygiene. Nobody should have to choose between buying food, staying warm, or managing their period with dignity.

Help us fill those bins back up so we can keep making sure our neighbors have what they need.

because unfortunately, just wishing our flow away is not an effective harm reduction strategy 😂

You can drop off one of our drop off locations during any reasonable out of the day!

📍 12 Delemere Blvd, Fairport, NY
📍 2081 Dublin Rd, Penfield, NY
📍 68 Akron St, Rochester, NY
📍 18 Black Cedar Dr, Chili, NY
📍 872 Denise Rd, Greece, NY

Another beautiful Sunday at RAW 🧡

Every week, I’m reminded that none of this happens because of one person. It happens because an entire village keeps showing up.

From those who donated food, clothing, hygiene and harm reduction supplies, to those who cooked meals, packed lunches, sorted clothing, hauled boxes, set up, cleaned up, poured coffee, handed out supplies, listened, hugged, and simply loved on our folks, thank you for showing up.

Some of the most important things we give out on Sundays can’t be packed into a bag.

It’s dignity.
Connection.
Familiar faces.
A place where someone knows your name.
Reminders that you matter and deserve to feel safe and loved.

RAW is about meeting people where they’re at with no shame, no judgment, just care. Every meal, every conversation, every warm piece of clothing, every harm reduction supply, and every moment someone feels seen instead of invisible matters.

This is community. This is love in action.

It takes a village, and we are so grateful for ours 🧡

Whenever. Wherever. Forever.

We walked in honor of the beautiful souls we have lost to su***de. We walked for the people whose absence is still felt in a thousand little moments, and for the families, friends, and communities who continue carrying their love forward.

Grief doesn’t end when the walk does. Neither does love.

We carry them with us. In the work we do. In the way we show up for one another. In every reminder that someone matters, that their story matters, and that no one should have to walk through their darkest moments alone.

Today was about remembering those we’ve lost, holding their names close to our hearts, and standing beside those who are still here.

We remember them and speak their names as we carry their love and we keep walking.

Thank you to the American Foundation for Su***de Prevention and everyone who made today’s Rochester Out of the Darkness Community Walk such a beautiful space for remembrance, connection, and hope.

Whenever. Wherever. Forever 🧡

***dePrevention ***deAwareness

Want fewer syringes and less public drug use? Let’s talk about what the research found.

A systematic review looking at 75 studies on supervised injection services found they were associated with:

Less public injecting
Fewer publicly discarded syringes
Better connections to healthcare
Fewer overdoses
Increased access to services

And researchers found no evidence that these programs increased drug use, drug trafficking, or surrounding crime.

People sometimes assume harm reduction creates the very problems communities are trying to solve.

The research tells a very different story.

If we want safer streets, healthier neighborhoods AND fewer deaths, we should be willing to follow the evidence.

Read the study:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25456324/

Supervised injection services: what has been demonstrated? A systematic literature review - PubMed SISs have largely fulfilled their initial objectives without enhancing drug use or drug trafficking. Almost all of the studies found in this review were performed in Canada or Australia, whereas the majority of SISs are located in Europe. The implementation of new SISs in places with high rates of i...

A systematic review published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine examined 22 studies on supervised consumption and overdose prevention services.

Researchers found these programs were associated with 👇🏽

Reduced overdose harm and death

Safer drug-use practices

Increased connection to addiction treatment

No increase, and in some studies decreases, in crime and public nuisance

Harm reduction doesn’t prevent recovery.

It creates another doorway through which people can reach it. And most importantly, it keeps people alive long enough to have that opportunity.

Read the research:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34218964/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

One of the biggest arguments against Overdose Prevention Centers is that they’ll increase crime or make neighborhoods less safe.

So researchers actually studied it.

A JAMA Network Open study looked at neighborhoods surrounding New York City’s two Overdose Prevention Centers and found no significant increase in crime or emergency-service calls after they opened.

That matters.

We can prevent overdoses without sacrificing community safety. These things are not mutually exclusive.

Harm reduction isn’t about ignoring what happens in our communities. It’s about using evidence to create solutions that protect everyone.

Read the study:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2811766

Overdose Prevention Centers, Crime, and Disorder in New York City This cohort study uses administrative data to evaluate the changes in crime and disorder associated with the opening of 2 overdose prevention centers in New York City.

Another beautiful Sunday in the books at RAW!

Thank you to everyone who showed up, donated, volunteered, dropped off supplies, shared a kind word, or helped us keep this little village moving.

Week after week, this community reminds us what can happen when people simply choose to care for one another. No shame. No judgment. Just care, connection, and a whole lot of love.

We couldn’t do any of this without all of you.

Whenever. Wherever. Forever, always… all ways🧡

We stand with Stephen on this: “Treatment First” is another barrier, and barriers cost lives” dammit!

The White House’s new “Treatment First” approach would require folks experiencing homelessness who are struggling with substance use or mental health challenges to agree to treatment before gaining access to certain services.

At RAW, we believe treatment should be available, accessible, immediate and voluntary. It should never become the price of admission for basic human needs like safety and shelter.

Someone does not need to prove they are “ready enough” for recovery before they deserve a roof over their head or any other basic human need for that matter!

In fact, the woman interviewed in this story explains the problem perfectly. She wants treatment and methadone, but recognizes that returning from treatment to a tent puts her right back into the environment she is trying to survive.

That is the fatal flaw in this thinking.

Housing and treatment should not be competing rewards at the end of an obstacle course. They can work together. Harm reduction, housing, mental health care, MOUD, peer support and treatment should surround people with options, not conditions.

Stephen said something else that gets directly to the heart of effective outreach: people need the latitude to make their own decisions.

That is what meeting people where they are actually means.

We will help someone get into treatment the moment they ask.

We will help someone who isn’t ready today stay alive long enough to have a tomorrow.

We will feed them. Give them Narcan. Connect them to health care. Offer harm reduction supplies. Help them navigate services. Sit beside them. Keep showing up.

Housing is healthcare. Harm reduction is healthcare. And keeping someone alive is not enabling them.

End the war on drugs!
End the war on people!

Whenever. Wherever. Forever 🧡

How the federal Treatment First plan to address homelessness is being received To help people who are unhoused, the Trump Administration is requiring people to agree to treatment first before gaining access to services.