PORT ANGELES — Four teenagers who have seen the damage drugs can inflict on a young life have founded an organization to help teens avoid or recover from drug abuse.
In their first outing as the founders of “Hope After Heroin,” Makiah Sperry 17; Caitlin Balser, 16; Chante Robideau, 17; and Micah Nichols, 17, gathered trash and found 20 hypodermic needles near Hollywood Beach on Friday in an effort aided by nearly two dozen fellow students.
That day, the four students had no school due to a district-wide teacher work day, and instead of spending the day relaxing with video games or going to a concert, they made posters and invited friends to a beach cleanup at Hollywood Beach.
“We invited everyone we thought would benefit from it,” Nichols said Sunday.
23 students
In all, 23 students from Lincoln High School, Port Angeles High School, Stevens Middle School and Franklin Elementary showed up Friday to pick up trash and locate needles and other drug paraphernalia in the rocks under City Pier, near Hollywood Beach and along the Olympic Discovery Trail to the east.
“Some just showed up. We didn’t even know them,” Makiah Sperry said.
The teens found 20 syringes, which were collected by seven adult volunteers to be disposed of through Clallam County Health and Human Services, along with makeshift pipes and other items associated with drug use, discarded clothing and six full bags of trash, Makiah’s mother, Tina Sperry, said.
The group will meet at 6 p.m. today at Westside Pizza, 612 S. Lincoln St., where it will hold a pizza party to celebrate its first successful cleanup and to plan for future events.
Pizzas were donated by supporters and by Westside Pizza.
The group said there are plans to have regular clean-up events in areas where youths congregate.
The four teens, along with Tina Sperry, founded “Hope After Heroin,” through which they intend to help young people support peers recovering from drug abuse, to try to keep other teens from trying drugs at all and to help clean up the results of drug use in the community.
“It’s not just heroin. It’s also meth,” Tina Sperry said Sunday.
Affected by drugs
Each founder knows other young people who are either using drugs, recovering from drug abuse, in jail for drugs or who have had family members or friends whose lives have been negatively affected by drugs.
That includes deaths, but fortunately not close loved ones, Makiah Sperry said.
The inspiration for the project was a young man Makiah Sperry once dated, whose name she declined to share.
Sperry said he was a former A student, promising athlete and “good guy,” and his life fell apart after he began to use drugs.
He spent time in “boot camp” getting clean, returned to Port Angeles and initially did well in his recovery, but began using drugs again, she said. Later this week he will be going to jail, she said.
With the blessing and support of his family members, Tina Sperry took the reins of the fledgling organization, and Makiah Sperry reached out to her friends to help their peers.
A lot of people write off drug users, but there are many out there who can recover and return to a sober life, Makiah Sperry said.
Nichols added that there are many smart young people who are still the future of Port Angeles and need help.
“They are not a lost cause. Just because you use, that doesn’t mean you are a bad person. That’s not who they are when they’re not using,” Nichols said.
The group said it is also working on a student march from Lincoln High School to the Clallam County Courthouse.
There are also fledgling concepts for drug-prevention plans, including a hotline where teens are there for other teens, and a series of locally made video interviews with local young people who have been affected by drug use.
Such hotlines are typically answered by adults, and teenagers don’t want to talk to adults, Makiah Sperry said.
She said teenagers, with adult supervision, would have cell phones to be available to talk when their peers may be considering trying drugs for the first time, or for recovering addicts who are being tempted to use drugs again.
Most of the videos are from other areas, and there is little connection to local teens.
“I don’t know those people,” Sperry said.
There are already local youth volunteers, both those who have loved ones affected by drug use or recovering addicts who are willing to share their stories.
Makiah Sperry said many teenagers will know at least a few of the volunteers and will be able to connect with their stories more easily.
The group said they plan to eventually meet with local law enforcement leadership to work through their ideas.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
