Participants from the Washita-Custer County Treatment Court have been working hard to improve the look and safety of the greater Cordell community. Last week treatment court participants spent part of one day cleaning up a twomile stretch of Highway 183 and then gathered again on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2019, to clean up and repair Cordell’s Lee Park before enjoying a family fish fry.
The group cleaned up the stretch of Highway 183 that stretches from one mile north to one mile south of the Washita-Custer County line. Sixteen participants joined in the clean-up effort and collected a total of 36 bags of garbage from the sides of the road. Treatment court participants perform the highway clean up about three times each year.
The park project included 42 program participants and approximately 20 family members, along with three members of the treatment court team. The group started at Lee Park at 8:00 a.m. and worked to clean up the park and to repair and maintain the playground area. After working all morning, the group moved to the Washita County Activity Center for a fish fry and burger lunch. The fish was donated by one treatment court participant who enjoys fishing, another donated 50 burgers to the effort.
“We believe in connecting to our community -- our community supports our participants while they work a program of accountability and recovery,” said treatment court coordinator Sarah Mears-Ivy. “We have a handful of wonderful people who are eager to donate food for our get-togethers. They understand that when we come together at the table, we are all just people trying to do the best we can to get by. We appreciate those folks who go the extra mile to support our participants.”
Ivy said a large part of the treatment court program is for the participants to give back to the community they harmed through their previous actions.
“A big component of living life in recovery is giving back to the community you took from,” she said. “Our participants do this every day.”