DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Two Palm Beach County moms featured in People Magazine are about to add more tools to their fight against substance abuse.
Working with the county, they are hoping to change Delray Beach from the epicenter of the opioid crisis to the capital of long-term recovery.
Five years ago, Cindy Singer had to bare the most painful tragedy for a mother.
"I lost my wonderful son Rory to an accidental overdose and I had to figure out what to do and how to deal with it," Singer said.
Her broken heart would lead her to find another mom, Staci Katz, who was also trying to heal from her son’s ongoing struggle with addiction.
"It just became a path that I had to go on that I never really chose to," Katz said.
The women said they put their pain to purpose. Stacy and Cindy’s organization, Our 2 Sons, has helped countless of people find the resources they need, and because of it, the women were recently featured in People Magazine.
"We raise money on a grassroots effort and help people in recovery and families in recovery with basics such as transportation, food, rent for sober living, and we’ve even had to buy urns for moms that went through all of their resources and dads to bury children," Singer said.
Advocating for a recovery center for years, they are now working with Palm Beach County to open one soon.
"This really here is where the epicenter of the fraud and abuse nationally. It’s beautiful to bring a new vision to Delray Beach," said John Hulick, the senior manager of the Office of Substance Use, Disorder, and Behavioral Health.
The Palm Beach County hub in Delray Beach will be a comprehensive recovery center opening up by February of next year. The mission is to provide resources to all the components that help people stay in recovery.
Hulick was brought in in 2018 to tackle the opioid crisis, which he said is making a strong comeback during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
"Based on the latest information out of the Medical Examiners Office, we’re going to be nearing if not exceeding the 2017, which was the highest overdose death rate in Palm Beach County. so COVID has had an absolute impact," Hulick said.
With a grant from the county , Staci, Cindy, and the recovery community center organization will help people out of treatment stay in recovery one resource at a time.
"Educating, sharing without shame, loving people when they can't love themselves, getting rid of the stigma," Katz said.
