R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press A box containing materials to reduce drug overdose, made possible through the Department of Public Health for Delta and Menominee Counties and citizen group Overdose Awareness of Delta County, is shown outside Jack’s Restaurant in Rapid River. More distribution boxes will be seen at other places around Delta County soon.

RAPID RIVER — Overdose Awareness of Delta County, the group that started as a reaction to several deaths of young adults by opioids –î specifically fentanyl –î is making progress in its efforts to prevent further tragedies.

Understanding that the message of “just say no” is ineffective, the group is instead focusing on education and harm reduction. One mission towards the latter is the installation of boxes where citizens may pick up free naloxone (the nasal spray medication which reverses opioid effects); test strips, so that drug users may find out whether a product is tainted and unsafe; and packets of information on resources like rehabilitation centers, support groups and other services.

The Daily Press recently donated 17 plastic boxes to repurpose for the cause, and Overdose Awareness of Delta County has stocked them with the aforementioned items and labeled them with their logo and a phone number so that they can be restocked when needed.

The distribution boxes will soon be installed at Bowl-a-Rama, Wally’s Bar, Jen’s Gems by Peach, Gladstone Savers, Serenity Salon, the Rapid River Post Office, Fuller Park, and other destinations within the county.

One larger distribution box has already been set up outside Jack’s Restaurant.

The naloxone –î brand name Narcan –î comes free from the Health Department, but Overdose Awareness of Delta County has been purchasing the test strips.

The newly-formed organization, made of concerned citizens and family members of individuals who have died by overdose, has begun the application process towards becoming an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit. When and if that goes through, they should hopefully find more resources at their disposal; they were denied a grant from the recent round of opioid settlement grant dispersals because of their lack of official status.

But even while waiting for paperwork to go through, the group been raising funds and is determined to push forward.

The Rapid River Lions Club, for its St. Patrick’s Day fundraising dinner, put all proceeds towards Overdose Awareness of Delta County.

With money raised from that fundraiser, the group is pursuing local implementation of a smartphone app that allows people to anonymously report tips to local law enforcement. The idea is that younger generations and people who are fearful of calling the cops will be more comfortable sending a message through an app knowing that their information will be scrubbed before the tip is sent to a police department.

“The younger kids are the ones that are also fully aware of who is out there selling this stuff,” said Kelly Dittrich, president of Overdose Awareness of Delta County. ‚ÄúThey’re hearing the stuff that we’re not hearing.”The platform they’re seeking, which is also accessible via computer for those without smartphones, is called tip411. It was developed by a company in Minnesota about 15 years ago and is used by a couple thousand communities around the United States –î most often by police departments, but in other instances, tip411 is used by schools, domestic abuse advocacy groups, federal agencies and others. The funding that Overdose Awareness is providing will be used to create a local section administered by the Delta County Sheriff Department.

“Designated personnel can log into the web-based dashboard to review and categorize incoming tips. Each tip is displayed with an anonymized ID, allowing for two-way communication without revealing personal information,” states tip411 on its website.

Overdose Awareness will have the opportunity to raise more funds and pursue other modes of achieving their mission to spread awareness and prevent drug overdose on June 28, during the Christian Groleau Memorial Race at the Escanaba Motor Speedway.

Jim and Charlotte Groleau — parents of Christian Groleau, a young man who used to race at the track on the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds but died by suicide five-and-a-half years ago recently approached Overdose Awareness of Delta County about conducting the raffles at the memorial race. This will be the sixth annual race in Christian’s memory; past ones have raised money for other causes.

Overdose Awareness of Delta County, which only began to organize in February, is discussing their goals. In addition to spreading information and harm reduction materials, they also hope to launch a website and are considering means of providing entertainment options for youth to keep them away from drugs.

Charlotte mentioned that she hopes mental health will be a focus, noting that anxiety and a lack of support can cause people to turn to either drug abuse or suicide, and that the area needs more options for accessible counseling and other mental health resources.