 When I say recovery in my everyday work I use the word recovery to mean recovery from addictions, from substance use disorders from substance use. But what I truly believe is that what fosters recovery from addictions, namely connection and community actually fosters recovery and healing and hope in addressing what ails us as individual humans and as a society as a whole. Connection and community not as abstract or shapeless ideas but as a concrete set of supports and actions and systems and relationships are the answer to many of this is the nexus issues that we have such as addictions mental health conditions aces domestic and sexual violence poverty and hunger and homelessness and so much more. These conditions don't exist in silence in silos or in isolation but rather they're inextricably connected to one another, and problems are bound together and so are the solutions. The solutions must be holistic and serve whole people at any stage of their healing and their recovery and throughout their lives to truly address one affliction and eliminate the grip of these scourges and our communities, we must address them all in concert. Our communities must work together, and we can do that. As Johann Hari wrote in chasing the screen the opposite of addiction isn't sobriety it's connection. If we created humane caring and connected communities where people truly cared for and helped one another, and live lives of service to one another where we all gave and we all gained. It would not be merely reactive and treat the problem as something to be eradicated, but would help would help protective factors flourish and would prevent many adverse conditions from starting and from spreading from person to person, and across the generations recovery is prevention and prevention is recovery. For nearly 20 years in health and human services I spent four years working at a battered women shelter, helping women rebuild their lives in new communities, and their children overcome their traumas of work to mitigate poverty and hunger and many other things that far too many people experience. I have lived in the heart since use field since 2013, though I've lived my whole life in the shadow of addiction among family and friends. In March of 2018 I moved to the little male Valley to serve at North Central Vermont Recovery Center, and I quickly realize that there's a special community of people and organizations that truly care about one another. I had a vision and my colleagues including the then director of the organization believed in me and the vision and our organization grew dramatically in September of 2018 I became the director. On February 15, 2019, a little over three years ago, Jenny Ray Tatro passed away from a fentanyl overdose after a six year battle, which started with pain medications prescribed after she was hit in the face by a boyfriend. About a month later, the Tatro family and I and some close allies started working together and Jenna's promise was born. That's involved a lot of discussion around barriers and what did or didn't work and what did or didn't exist. What there was or was not enough of, but barriers and obstacles and holes quickly became solutions and dreams, and we dreamed big and ambitiously about how to fill the gaps and never have once have any of us ever told each other that anything wasn't possible. We believed in each other and our ability to turn those ambitions into realities. We believe that if our solutions were actually solutions and our ideas were effective, then the money and support would be earned. We acted with urgency and conviction, we turned heartbreak and tragedy and pain into motivation. We leaned on each other and others. We learned from others and brought them in on what we wanted to do because no personal organization or town is an island. The Tatro family bought a church in Johnson using Jenna's life insurance since the name Jenna's house, and eventually we landed on the idea of using the upstairs as a multi purpose event center and community space. We realized that the downstairs could be made into a satellite facility for the recovery center to provide direct services, and we could combine what Jenna's promise and what the recovery center wanted to do, and what the community needed. My dream was to care for people more holistically, including having a gym, the moms and recovery support program, a playground, a telehealth hub, nutrition services, and much more. I wanted our programs and services to concurrently address mental health and well-being and physical health and well-being, as our system of care often segregates mental health and physical health. And that's what we did. With support from donors and foundations and grants we invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and made it a world-class community and recovery center and gathering place for the community. We opened Jenna's house on August 14, 2021. The Tatro family while providing many other services including recovery coaching support groups financial assistance such as recovery resident scholarships, transportation and more, then started Ray of Hope recovery residents the first, the state's first and currently only level three recovery residents, which again brought in so much support from the community in all its forms. What's really special is how the town of Johnson and area residents supported us every step of the way. There wasn't the nimby is and we're not in my backyard mentality, or even outright obstruction, I've seen elsewhere. I've bought it bought an old lumber yard, and have since started JP's promising goods and Jenna's promise roasting coffee roasting company as social enterprises, the process, the profits from of which will go directly back to support the nonprofit and its operations, and will bring the organization along with other funding streams into the future. More recovery residences have opened including a home for men and transitional apartments, representing a spectrum of much needed housing options. Prior to that, there wasn't a single recovery residents bed in the little oil valley. And the teacher family also bought and are renovating the historic 1890s Barrow building in downtown Johnson which will provide yet more recovery housing upstairs and Jenna's promise cafe, yet another social enterprise. It should open this spring. All of these businesses employ people in recovery who can then go on to work at recovery friendly workplaces that we have lined up. We're also working at recovery at workforce housing and other other types of housing, and it building more employment supports in partnership with many local businesses. Finally, for now, done Greg also bought in us an old subway building to be converted into a medical office space for the Johnson Health Center, which is bring Matt services nurse practitioners and other services back to Johnson, where none existed. So, there are all that isn't all that's going on and this isn't nearly all we have planned it's just the beginning. It's taken a village stories this child, and we're creating a recovery village that brings a full continuum of services and supports and opportunities to the region. We've been able to enable what has happened in just three years and the restorative effect that it's had on the community. It has improved services, built stronger connections, reduce stigma associated with substance use and served many and saved many lives. It's nearly where we want to be but every day we get closer to a recovery village, a recovery oriented community from which hope emanates and spreads throughout the valley, and we hope that that model and that hope and the example of transformation will spread elsewhere. Through these and other actions we're beginning to both we are working to bolster community and to bring people together and organizations together from around the region and common cause. With all of this in mind we wanted to share this special place, the spent the special community with people around Vermont and beyond, with support from genus promise and North Central Vermont Recovery Center, and others recovery Vermont is proud to announce that we'll be holding a recovery leadership conference on April 4. This conference's theme is it takes a village new approaches to Vermont's addiction epidemic. It's an all day event and will be held in person for more than 100 guests at Jenna's house in Johnson, using the state of the art audio visual system at Jenna's house. The event will be simulcast by a zoom webinar for any and all who would like to join us for the special day. This day will feature three internationally and nationally renowned speakers, as well as a special presentation by genus promise and recovery Vermont about the recovery village. In person guests lunch will be provided and there will be opportunities for book signings and meet and greets and photos of the speakers, as well as tours of genus promise and the recovery village. Our opening plenary speaker will be Vermont State Senator and candidate for the US House of Representatives Kasia Ram Hinsdale. The keynote speaker will be none other than Johann Hari, who wrote chasing the scream and lost connections. And then finally we're going to we're really excited to have Sam back to Vermont to talk about the least of us, and to share what he's learned in his decades of of work and traveling around the country and around the world. And in particular about hope in the time of fentanyl and meth. So we're really excited to have Sam back and have these these speakers and just share this recovery village with you.