STORM

The RM Overdose Community Action Team a multisector group of municipal and community partners. It is comprised of individuals from Alouette Addictions, Fraser Health, RainCity Housing, the Salvation Army, School District 42, and others. The group’s primary goal is to work together to develop a community-based response to opioid overdose crisis, identify challenges and address gaps as they arise, and increase community wide compassion, engagement and inclusion.

Stop Overdose Ridge Meadows is one of the many Community Action Teams operating across the province of British Columbia that is funded through the Community Action Initiative in partnership with The Ministry of Health. Since its inception STORM has worked in creative ways to address the drug crisis on a local level.

Over the past three years our team has developed a consistent annual structure that combines ongoing communication efforts, collaborative projects, larger community events and continuous connection with our most vulnerable population. We host monthly meetings- inviting community partners, peers and volunteers to share the work they are doing and have a say in the work we do. We host weekly outreach efforts to connect with people in our community who are living unhoused or marginally housed and using substances. During our outreach we distribute harm reduction supplies including safer use tools and naloxone kits. We also hand out lunches and any donations we receive, mostly from our ongoing partnership with the Uplifting Group.

In addition, STORM attends as many community events as we can which typically include Pride in the Park hosted by PLEA Community Services, National Indigenous People’s Day hosted by Fraser River Indigenous Society, Homeless Action Week hosted by Coast Mental Health, and many others.

Finally, STORM hosts three major community events ourself: The STORM Show & Shine supporting mens mental health programs in our community, our International Overdose Awareness Day event, and Speaking Through the STORM a TED-talk inspired event featuring stories from people with lived experience in this crisis.

Through these unique approaches we have done our best to reach all levels of our community- from the most visible and vulnerable, to the hidden population and those opposed to the work we do. Our goal has always been to reduce stigma, increase compassion and create connection within our community.

Through our work we’ve witnessed co-occurring crises that we can now address through this new lens. We will continue the foundation of work we have established as Stop Overdose Ridge Meadows and build on it through The Good Wolf Foundation.