The Brightside Project is planning its first outreach event. The Salem Neighborhood Outreach will be held in the old Salem Label Building parking lot near Lundy Ave. Children who live in that neighborhood are invited to come and meet The Brightside Project staff. Each child in attendance will receive a bag packed full of healthy snacks and personal care items.

This fact sheet presented several variables concerning families in America. To be in deep poverty, the line is drawn at a family of three making an annual income below $9,276 or less than $9 a day per family member.

Can you picture this bus pulling into neighborhoods, schools, and parks in our community full of compassionate adults and basic needs for children? We can! Many of our supporters have asked if we already have purchased this bus. No, we haven't. That's the purpose of our $100K Launch Campaign — to buy our first mobile unit. 

We keep seeing stories in the news about children watching their caretakers pass out because they were high. The New York Times just posted another story on Sept. 27, "Addicted Parents Get Their Fix, Even With Children Watching." It breaks our heart. Every time.

CNN just posted a powerful and sobering article, "This is America on drugs: A visual guide." One of the very first visuals you see is an infographic showing just how rapidly the drug problem in America has grown since 1999. Think about this in 1999 there were 1.9-7.5 deaths per 100,000 people in the state of Ohio from drug and opioid overdose. In 2014? Ohio now has one of the highest death rates in the entire country—21.5-36.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

We all saw the national news headline last week out of East Liverpool, Ohio—right here in Columbiana County. Parents high on heroin passed out in car with son in the backseat. Heartbreaking.