Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Opioid Settlement Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Perry County nonprofit asks commissioners for $100,000 in opioid-settlement funds to launch veterans wellness pilot
Summary
Operation Mind Body and Soul requested $100,000 in opioid-settlement funds over two years to open a veterans-focused recreation and peer-support program in Perry County, citing higher veteran suicide and overdose rates and asking commissioners to visit a ribbon cutting before deciding.
Boone Taylor, founder and president of Operation Mind Body and Soul, asked Perry County Commissioners on March 2 to approve $100,000 in opioid-settlement funds to launch a two-year veteran wellness pilot that would provide fitness-based peer support, referral pathways to behavioral health services and monthly recovery programming.
Taylor said the proposal requests $60,000 in year one for facility setup, fitness equipment, a part-time program coordinator and peer mentors, and $40,000 in year two for continued coordination, outreach and limited equipment maintenance. The program aims to serve an estimated 75–150 veterans and first responders over two years and to provide quarterly reporting to commissioners.
The group presented a program model it said has been piloted in neighboring Dubois County and said it aligns with allowable opioid-settlement abatement categories under Indiana law (citing IC 4-12-16.2 and Exhibit E program uses). Taylor described planned activities including “Operation Fitness” (gym memberships and personal-trainer visits), monthly hikes, community cleanups and a recovery office at 140 Indiana 66 East, and said the nonprofit partners with VA suicide-prevention coordinators, local mental-health providers and a 36-member Mental Health Coalition for clinical referrals when peers identify higher-level needs.
County staff and commissioners discussed overlap with existing county-funded mental-health services and fund availability. Officials reported the county’s unrestricted opioid-settlement balance at about $57,000 and restricted funds at roughly $100,000; commissioners urged coordination with current providers and with law enforcement and EMS to avoid duplicating services.
Taylor invited commissioners to a ribbon-cutting event and offered to return with more information; commissioners indicated they could defer action and requested time to review the packet and confirm how the proposal would fit with current county programs and funding constraints.
Next steps: commissioners did not vote on the request at the meeting and signaled they would consider the proposal at a future meeting after staff review and possible site visits.
