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Blue Water Recovery and Outreach Center urges more funding, cites rising demand and recent staff death
Summary
Blue Water Recovery and Outreach Center presented year‑to‑date service figures to the Port Huron City Council, described a recent staff death, and said it expects the city manager to propose opioid‑settlement funding for the group at the next council meeting.
Blue Water Recovery and Outreach Center executive director Patrick Patterson told the Port Huron City Council on Sept. 8 that demand for recovery services remains high and asked the city and residents for continued financial and logistical support.
Patterson said the grassroots nonprofit has provided thousands of services in 2025 and that the organization lost a staff member to relapse over the preceding weekend. “As we grieve and mourn this tragic loss, may it also reignite our passion to carry forward our work,” Patterson said.
The presentation included program statistics Patterson identified as year‑to‑date through August: 896 support groups serving about 9,600 participant attendances (Patterson noted individuals can attend multiple groups), more than 3,200 phone calls, roughly 3,600 transports to treatment or recovery services, and more than 1,200 people served by recovery coaching since the organization’s founding. Patterson also cited outcome measures he said BWROC collects: “Nearly 50 percent of our participants report 90 days of sobriety, and 51 percent report having improved recovery capital,” he said.
Why it matters: Council members and the city manager flagged BWROC as a community partner in addressing the opioid crisis and said grant and settlement dollars are a potential local funding source. City Manager James Fried told the council he will bring a proposal at the next meeting to allocate some opioid‑settlement funds — the city manager referred to the “big pharma settlement” that funds local opioid responses — to BWROC. Fried said the city is vetting BWROC’s governance, finance and auditing practices and that the organization has the structures the city would require for subrecipient funding.
Council and staff response: Fried described a planned proposal to use opioid settlement dollars to support organizations such as BWROC and said the city will present formal allocation recommendations to the council at a subsequent meeting. Council members thanked BWROC for service delivery and expressed condolences for the staff member who died.
Additional context: Patterson said BWROC will host Recovery Fest at Pine Grove Park and that he and state Representative Tim Pavlov planned to petition the Michigan Legislature for Sept. 13 to be declared a state Day of Recovery. Patterson asked for continued cooperation with city leaders on transportation, access and funding. The presentation included brief video testimonials from people who use BWROC services and several volunteers who described transportation and peer‑coach services.
Ending: Patterson closed by asking residents and officials to “believe in us and support BWROC today,” and council members signaled they will consider staff recommendations on settlement funding at the next meeting.
