As the end of the fall semester approaches, local high schoolers are hard at work on their respective senior projects.
For Columbus North senior Curran O’Connor, this means collecting donations of hygiene items such as towels, soap and deodorant to include in kits for residents of sober living houses operated by the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress.
Curran’s plan is to create 30 hygiene kits for ASAP sober living houses, with 20 going to two homes for males and 10 going to a home for females. Leftover donations will go to other sober living homes in the community. This includes houses run by Oxford House and Transformational Living Ministries, respectively, as well as two new homes ASAP plans to open in 2022.
In seeking donations for the project, Curran shared his mission on social media and contacted friends and family about it. Other people also shared his flyer, which led to a lot of support.
The message was also shared on social media by Curran’s mother, Hollie O’Connor, who works at Columbus Regional Health’s Treatment and Support Center as an addiction therapist and collaborates with ASAP.
Curran said donations have been sent in by probation officers, the juvenile court judge, Treatment and Support Center providers, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Family Recovery Court providers, Centerstone, local businesses and some of his mother’s past clients who are now in recovery.
In addition to hygiene items, Curran has also received cash donations, which he said might be used to fund activities for sober living residents, such as going to the gym or bowling.
O’Connor said that her son has identified social activities as an important need for sober living residents.
Because of this, he is collecting a variety of items “so that those in recovery can learn that there are many amazing and fun activities in which they can participate in their down time,” she said. These will go to both male and female residents of ASAP homes and potentially other homes as well, depending on donations received.
She added that, as of Oct. 27, Curran had received almost $1,000 to go toward these purchases.
“I love how our small city is so supportive of the recovery community,” O’Connor said.
“I also plan to write a welcome letter, which will go in each hygiene bag, along with a gift card to Kroger or Aldi so they will have a small amount of money to get groceries when they move in,” Curran added. “The residents are responsible for providing all of their own food. Many come to the houses with little to no money, until they acquire employment.”
For the community service portion of his project, Curran is volunteering at the Treatment and Support Center. O’Connor said her son’s volunteer work has included “making intake folders and preparing brochures which are provided to clients (many of which are residents at the sober houses) and the community.”
When asked how he got the idea for his senior project, Curran said his mother is friends with many people who run ASAP sober living houses. These people mentioned the need for hygiene products.
His mother said those in recovery often go directly from inpatient facilities to the houses and “have very little to their name and also have very little support.”
“It’s a challenge for the new residents to get back on their feet and get all the stuff they need if they’ve just come back from rehab,” Curran said. “So we just wanted to make it a little easier.”
