 Let's go now to another one of our annual parts of recovery day. The Jack Berry Award. Jack Berry was a is a legend, the late Jack Berry is a legend in Vermont's recovery community. He was talking about recovery and his own recovery and breaking down stigma and barriers decades ago. Before you were even born, Ron, maybe. So my pleasure to to turn this over to two other great stigma busters. Daniel Franklin and Ron Stankovich who will be presenting this year's award. Good to see you both again. Thanks, Peter. It's an honor to have the opportunity today to present the Jack Berry communications award to someone who so fully embodies the legacy of Jack's work. I'm proud and thankful to present the 2021 Jack Berry communications award to my mentor colleague and dear friend Ed Baker. Practically since the day Ed entered recovery more than 36 years ago, he's been a champion for recovery and all its forms and for people in recovery. He's been a champion of kindness, decency, compassion, acceptance, respect and love for others. His profile and courage Ed was open and outspoken about his story before it was really as acceptable as it is now back in the days when it was still commonplace and acceptable to refer people to people as addicts and junkies rather than as people at all. He has missed what he has preached whether it is an overcoming substance use disorders or in changing the language we use about people with addictions or an advocating for recovery and the richness that can come through a life lived without substances, no matter the hurt and trauma we've been through. He's been a champion for others. After getting his master's degree in social work and served as a licensed clinical social worker and licensed alcohol and drug counselor for more than 30 years. Living in Morrisville at the time in the fall of 2009 and early 2010 Ed was one of the primary drivers in the establishment of North Central Vermont Recovery Center and served as the first chairman of the board. He was a distinguished service and took on another role in Burlington where he and I met and as well as Ron and Ed began creating presentations and authoring articles on such topics as the brain science of addiction, softly spoken advocacy positive messaging and stigma that have taken him around the country to influence how people think and speak about people with SUDs and in recovery. Ed has been a key figure in changing common language commonly used in Vermont when discussing addiction in numerous settings from businesses to the state house to task forces. To the extent that Ed's advocacy to remove the word abuse from state and federal agency names will come true in the coming years. I named the host and producer of the addiction recovery channel in 2017, which has been one of the most watched shows on CCTV channel 17 ever since. In many ways, I picked up Jack's torch and ran with it. Whether it be as a counselor appear a recovery center founder, a media personality a speaker and author or a friend and family member. Ed says he's retired now but the truth is he can't stop helping people and I don't think he ever will. Anyone who knows Ed knows the energy he has and the will to right wrongs and to make lives better. Ed's advocacy to remove the word abuse from state and federal agency names will come true in the coming years. Ed's advocacy to remove the word abuse from state and federal agency names will come true in the coming years. Thank you for the world we get to live in today, whether we are in recovery or not, and for helping to show us all the way over the last four decades. Thank you, Ed, and congratulations. I'll chime in here for a couple of moments thanks Daniel your words were impeccable and so to the point and so accurate. I'm delighted and just grateful to be here to celebrate with all of you and recognized Ed Bakers contributions and achievements. Honestly when I think of Ed two words come to mind passion and authenticity. His passion is obvious to anyone if you speak with Ed for more than 15 seconds. It comes through loud and clear. It permeates everything he does, even though he says he's retired hint he's not. Ed's passion brings light where there is darkness knowledge where there is misunderstanding and hope where there is despair. A major tenant of Ed's work has been and continues to be positive messaging to address stigma. The authenticity he displays is contagious and the message delivered is crystal clear. We all should respectfully challenge stereotypes through the lens of science with understanding and support voices will be heard and respected health care will become accessible and most importantly a life of recovery is within reach. A perfect example of putting his passion and authenticity into action is through the addiction recovery channel, which Ed produces his vision was simple, involve experts across the continuum of care to dispel stigma, develop awareness through science and generate compassion and support through understanding. So it's with great pleasure that both Daniel and I present the Jack Berry award to our dear friend and colleague Mr Ed Baker. Well. Thank you. Thank you, Peter. Thank you, Ron and thank you Daniel for for your kind and warm introductions. Now, three pillars of support for this great recovery movement in Vermont. Thank you. Before I start I'd like to mention just a few other pillars of support. There are many. But I'd like to mention a few that are special to me I'd like to mention Nancy Bassett. Great friend and inspiration to me. Thank you Nancy for your continuous contributions over the years. I'd like to mention Melinda white who is a recovery rock star specifically Melinda for your work on public TV highlighting people with lived experience of addiction and recovery, raising consciousness in Vermont. Thank you for your work. And Michelle Salvador, who works with the Office of alcohol and drug programs in the Lamoyle Valley, the north central Vermont region. Michelle has worked helping people to develop coalitions that support education prevention treatment and recovery support services in that area. Thank you so much, Michelle. Yeah, I'd like to mention a real friend of recovery Margaret Harrington, Margaret Harrington from the Center for media and democracy channel 17 CCTV. You know, it was Margaret who said to me, after she interviewed me on one of her shows we she interviewed me about the opioid epidemic she said, Ed, do you think maybe you could have your own show. And I had that had never ever crossed my mind anything like that. But out of that idea grew the addiction recovery channel, a TV show devoted to lessening and contributing to the eventual eradication of the stigma that wrongfully attaches to people with substance use disorder. I want to thank CCTV, Lauren Glendividian, and the the entire team for throwing their resources behind what amounted to a very timely idea to help Vermonters to unlearn stigma and unleash compassion. Thank you, CCTV. I'm Ed, and I'm a person long term stable recovery. And what that means to me today is is I'm free. I'm, I'm free to choose, and I choose today to be a part of, I choose today to be a part of my wonderful family, my loving family. I choose today to be a part of this incredibly powerful recovery movement. This is our moment. I choose to be a part of this. I choose to be a part of the general overall context in Vermont, the citizens of Vermont, the communities of Vermont, I choose to be a part of this great state of Vermont. And so choosing, I have connection we've heard connection mentioned today a number of times, I have connection, I choose to give back I choose to contribute what I can to this great movement. I also choose to receive I choose to accept those of us in recovery. We meditate about acceptance, we pray about acceptance we read about acceptance we talk about it. Usually we practice it in relation to great adversity. When we face adversity we strive for acceptance. Today it's different for me. Today, every cell in my body, every neural pathway in my brain is jumping with joy at acceptance. I accept your affirmation. I accept your support I accept your encouragement. I accept. I accept the Jack Barry Award. I fully accept this. I accepted on behalf of you I accepted on behalf of you who came before me who came before us who cleared the way and laid the groundwork for this great structure of recovery that we're building. I accepted on behalf of you, you who cannot be here with us today. You who cannot be here with us, because you've been taken, you've been taken from us by addiction. I accepted on your behalf. And I accepted for you. I accepted for you, everyone in this great virtual room of recovery and beyond this room, everyone in recovery. Friends of recovery supporters of recovery. I accepted on behalf of you. Beacons of hope that you are shining north stars of example that you are living proof that you are that recovery works. Recovery coaching works recovery centers work recovery housing works recovery assisted employment works. We recover we get better. We become enthusiastic. We become fulfilled. And we give back. I celebrate you today. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. And thank you. And I hope you'll you'll take a second to look through the chat and to see all of the love and appreciation and acceptance of the gifts you've given us over the years you've been a you've just had a had a uniquely powerful role in Vermont's recovery community. And we love you and we're grateful to you. And we look forward to our continued work together. So, thank you. Thank you. Take care. What a great guy, and what a fitting recipient for the award.