Photo by Janice Kiaski PROMOTING EVENT — Robin Leasure and Bobbyjon Bauman prepare fliers promoting a town hall meeting called “Thriving Through Eliminating Addiction.” It will be begin at 6 p.m. on Monday at the Sycamore Youth and Community Center, 301 N. Fourth St., Steubenville, and include resource information, a presentation by U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, and a roundtable discussion. It is free and open to the public.

STEUBENVILLE — Robin Leasure and Bobbyjon Bauman say they have a heart to raise awareness and nurture hope when it comes to dealing with addiction.

And that has motivated the two to organize a town hall meeting to the theme “Thriving Through Eliminating Addiction.”

It will be held Monday at the Sycamore Youth and Community Center, located at 301 N. Fourth St., beginning at 6 p.m. with resource information and refreshments. U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, will offer comments from 6:30 p.m. to 7. After that comes a 30-minute roundtable discussion, including an opportunity for questions and answers.

Bauman, a Steubenville resident, is president of the Ohio Valley Youth Network and is the center’s founder and director. Leasure lives in Toronto and is director of nursing at New Day Recovery, a detox center in Rogers, Ohio.

The two met at a town hall meeting about addiction held last year at Eastern Gateway Community College and have been compelled since then to organize Monday’s event, they said.

“I have just worked with people who have been addicted to drugs,” Bauman said. “I used to be in social work as a case manager and also through youth ministry and remember a parent’s struggle with addiction, so we’re just hoping to put a stop to it as best that we can just because it affects so much of an individual’s life. It’s just an all-consuming issue,” Bauman explained.

“The best way I can put it is when I talk to the kids — if you don’t want to be homeless and you don’t want to be poor, don’t go on drugs, and that’s the honest-to-God truth, because that’s what I’ve seen,” Bauman said. “Everyone who is really struggling in life, typically there’s an addiction problem with drugs, and so I’m trying to change the hearts of the next generation but also minister to those who are already addicted who are adults, as well,” he added.

The town hall meeting is free and open to all.

“My hope is to bring more awareness regarding the issue of mental illness and addiction, that it affects many people,” she said. “We have had 74,000 people die from addiction in 2017, and it’s only getting worse,” she said.

Promotional fliers the two prepared define addiction as “the continued use of a substance that alters your mood with no regard to what the consequences of using that drug can be.”

The information also cites a 2014 national survey on drug use and health, noting 7.9 million people in the United States experience a mental disorder and substance use disorder simultaneously. Both need treated, according to Leasure.

Bauman said he was “shocked” by a recent statistic ranking West Virginia as No. 1 and Ohio as No. 2 in the rate of deaths due to opioid addiction.

“That’s a stat that really shows we’ve got to do something about that,” Bauman said.

The roundtable discussion will include participation by Judge John Mascio; a paramedic; Pastor Marvin Barner of Second Baptist Church; Joe Rawson of Family Recovery Center; and survivor Michael Johnson.

“We wanted someone there who can give hope to other people who are suffering,” Leasure said. “They need to see that he did it, I can do it,” she added.

There also will be resource information available with a presence by Family Recovery Center, Coleman Professional Services and the Jefferson County Prevention and Recovery Board.

“This is just one of a series of town hall meetings we want to have,” Leasure said. “We’re planning on having a follow-up after this one so we want to know nationally what is the Legislature doing to combat this so that’s why Bill Johnson is speaking,” she said.

“Our goal is to bring about awareness,” Leasure said. “We don’t want people to become numb to the facts, that it’s just fentanyl or it’s just heroin or another overdose,” she said.