For Immediate Release

Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015

Contact: John Guilfoil (P.A.A.R.I.)
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

P.A.A.R.I. Receives $5,000 Donation from the Forest Foundation

GLOUCESTER — Police Chief Leonard Campanello and John Rosenthal, co-founders of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.), would like to thank the Forest Foundation for donating $5,000 to the program.

The Forest Foundation was started in 1993 by a Boxford family looking to help new, small and emerging nonprofits get started, while supporting under served youth and families in Essex County.

Today, it has evolved into a regional grant provider that currently funds 50 summer nonprofit internships and awards over 30 regional grants to smaller nonprofits. The Forest Foundation generally makes grants in the range of $2,000 to $8,000.

“We greatly appreciate the generosity and support of the Forest Foundation,” Chief Campanello said. “Grants like this enable P.A.A.R.I. to perform its mission of helping people recover from the disease of addiction, while assisting municipal police departments looking to implement a program to combat the opioid epidemic in their communities.”

About P.A.A.R.I.
P.A.A.R.I. was started to support local police departments as they work with opioid addicts. Rather than arrest our way out of the problem of drug addiction, P.A.A.R.I. committed police departments:

• Encourage opioid drug users to seek recovery
• Help distribute life saving opioid blocking drugs to prevent and treat overdoses
• Connect people suffering with opioid addiction with treatment programs and facilities
• Provide resources to other police departments and communities that want to do more to fight the opioid addiction epidemic

P.A.A.R.I. was created by Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello and John Rosenthal to bridge the gap between the police department and opioid addicts seeking recovery. Since its founding, more than 40 police departments in 13 states have joined as partners with the initiative.

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