After hearing four clients and program coordinator Elaine Kelly from Hamilton County Drug Court speak in Gary Behler\u2019s criminal justice class in spring semester, a group of compassionate students decided to take action.\u00a0 Drug Court allows drug addicts to work towards sobriety instead of facing a jail sentence.<\/p>\n
The Probation, Parole and Community Corrections class asked if they could lead a community service project to provide assistance to the program participants and those graduating from the 14-month program.<\/p>\n
Senior Yesima Williams directed the project for the class of 44 students.\u00a0 Nearly every student contributed to the collection of nearly 100 household items which included non-perishable food items, toiletries, cleaning supplies, dishes and gift cards.\u00a0 Furniture items included lamps, chairs, table, computer desktop, space heater, vacuum cleaner, and a television set.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coordinator of Hamilton County Drug Court was thankful for the items,\u201d said Behler.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAfter 14 months of participation in this program, graduates start with nothing, but they are looking forward to starting over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behler, who has been an adjunct professor for 18 years and serves as operations director of First Things First, was glad his students could hear the clients speak from a first-hand perspective.\u00a0 \u201cIt was powerful,\u201d Behler said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re not just talking about people who were raised in a low income situation.\u00a0 We\u2019re also talking about some people from affluent families who have made mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After hearing four clients and program coordinator Elaine Kelly from Hamilton County Drug Court speak in Gary Behler\u2019s criminal justice class in spring semester, a group of compassionate students decided to take action.\u00a0 Drug Court allows drug addicts to work towards sobriety instead of facing a jail sentence.<\/p>\n