Vote Now to Help MECC Receive $25,000 Grant

Big Stone Gap – Mountain Empire Community College needs help from the community to be selected for a $25,000 grant to support a comprehensive opioid education program in Southwest Virginia, entitled Project REVIVE Appalachia.

MECC was selected as one of 200 finalists in State Farm’s Neighborhood Assist grant program, a crowd-sourced philanthropic program that empowers communities to identify issues in their neighborhoods. Individuals can vote up to ten times a day from now until midnight on Friday, November 4 by visiting http://www.neighborhoodassist.com/entry/1984419.  A valid email address is required for voting.

Project REVIVE Appalachia will provide education and assistance to rural EMS, First Responders, school nurses and school administrators in Southwest Virginia in responding to opioid overdoses and reducing associated deaths from opioid abuse. Funding will be used to assist in purchasing of Naloxone (Narcan), a therapy used to reverse the effects of opioids in the brain and reduce death rates from overdose. In addition, MECC staff will work directly to train EMS, First Responders and public school administrators and nurses in the administration of Naloxone (Narcan). 

MECC Practical Nursing students will provide general community awareness training of opioid issues to public schools, community colleges (students, staff, and faculty), and faith based organizations throughout the region.  Training will address how to recognize and respond to opioid use and possible overdose, dispelling common myths about how to reverse an opioid overdose, and understanding civil liability laws in reporting an overdose.

On Nov. 30, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced at www.neighborhoodassist.com and a $25,000 grant will be awarded to the affiliated nonprofits.

For more information or to vote, visit www.mecc.edu/neighborhoodassist or contact Nora Blankenbecler, MECC, Director, Mountain Empire Rural Health Network, at 276.523.2400 ext. 241.