County Gets Official Ok on New Opioid Funds Projects

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County’s last round of projects funded by opioid settlement funds has been officially cleared by the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund.

County council approved the following projects in May (story here), which were sent to the SCORF for official approval:

· $350,342 to Love Well for a Residential Center Program. The program is a duration of four months for each woman admitted with referral from Anderson County Drug Court, Public Defender’s Office, Detention Center, and the Solicitor’s Office.

Funding for the projects comes from the $5.5 million in opioid settlement money for the county from a variety of pharmacies including Walgreens. The funds are being received slowly between now and 2038. In 2021, Anderson County also received just over $190,000 as part of the settlement money given to South Carolina. The funds are being used for helping stem addiction as well as providing funding for the drug court in the county.

· $183,720 to FAVOR for Community Recovery services. This funding would provide for one full-time Community Engagement Specialist who would be responsible for Community Outreach and Education. In addition, the funds will provide for two part-time Recovery Coaches/Peer Support Specialists and two part-time Family Recovery Coaches who will facilitate family support groups, educate families in need, deliver one-on-one family coaching services, coordinate interventions for families in crisis and distribute Harm Reduction materials.

· $94,380 to expand services of FAVOR (Faces And Voices Of Recovery) Upstate-Anderson at the AnMed Medical Center.

To date the county has funded four projects from the funding: PlaySafe’s education program to address opioid addiction among high school athletes, the County Coroner’s D.E.A.D. (Drugs End All Dreams) education program in the public schools, and scholarships for Shalom House Ministries and The Bridge ministry.

Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns said the need is great and that the funds are helping a variety of on-the-ground groups working to help those with addiction issues.

“Anderson County carefully monitors these funded projects to make sure they are going where they were approved to go,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns.

Burns said the new and previously funded projects are being carefully audited to assure they are being used for efforts in Anderson County.

SCORF also closely audits the funding from the opioid settlement funds.