Volunteers donated time, as police collected unused medications
By Lauren Parker- Gill, News Editor, The Times
After gathering outside of the Benner Building Saturday morning, over 100 volunteers donated their time in six locations throughout Coatesville.
COATESVILLE – Great things were happening in Coatesville this past weekend for Make a Difference Day that was organized by the Coatesville Youth Initiative and the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day that was also held Saturday at the City of Coatesville Police Department and Caln Township Police Department.
According to its website, Make a Difference Day, now in its 24th year, is one of the largest days of service held in the nation and was formed in 1992 with the purpose of showing that people can work together to have an impact on their community.
Despite the cold and the light rain that began to fall right at 9 a.m., over 100 volunteers turned out to volunteer their time and their services at locations, such as West End Park, Ash Park, Palmer Park, the Benner Building, Scott Middle School and the Brandywine Center Building. Tasks varied between picking up trash and raking leaves in the parks to repainting inspiring words and games on asphalt paths and painting over graffiti.
Svereal volunteers helped collect trash, rake leaves and repaint inspiring words and games for the Born Learning Trail at Ash Park.
“The outpouring of help from our youth and from Coatesville families was amazing,” said Lula Defersha, Prevention Manager for the Coatesville Youth Initiative. “We accomplished far more that we had planned on and look forward to making next year’s event even bigger and better.”
Also taking place Saturday was the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 12th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Local police departments teamed up with the community to collect unused or expired prescription and non-prescription medications to safely dispose.
While there are five collection bins throughout Coatesville, Caln Township police station and Coatesville police station had a designated collection time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“It’s a nice opportunity to make certain that drugs are properly disposed of and staying out of the hands of people that could abuse them,” stated Officer Kirt Guyer, with the Coatesville Police Department.
Officer Kirt Guyer was on hand Saturday morning for the drug take-back program, run by the DEA.
Valley Township resident Donna Clark was thankful for the opportunity to clean out her medicine cabinet as a way to prevent medications from getting into the wrong hands.
Clark’s son first got addicted to drugs by raiding a friend’s medicine cabinet as a teen; at 33 years old, he is now working on his recovery and a new life.
“Being able to clean out your medicine cabinet prevents medications from getting into the wrong hands, which can help people avoid addiction, overdoses and potentially dangerous drug interactions.” Clark said.
As Clark placed her medications in the bin at the Coatesville police station, Sergeant Rodger Ollis estimated that nearly 700 pounds of medications had been turned in, between the collection bins in the area and what was turned in that day.
Clark then said that if telling the story about her son ends up saving a life or preventing another person from becoming an addict, it’s worth it.
Donna Clark cleaned out her medicine cabinet for the take-back program, which is a cause that is very important to her.
Though the DEA holds two take-back collection dates per year, there are five collection bins that are available throughout the year and are emptied quarterly. They are at the following locations:
Caln Township Police Department
City of Coatesville Police Department
Valley Township Police Department
West Brandywine Police Department
West Caln Police Department
