Sound The Alarm addresses The Hub’s opioid epedemic
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 8 ANUARY 4-10, 2019 BTR
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BY ALEX MITCHELL
Although there are many
south Bronx organizations
fi ghting to take back their
communities from opioid and
substance abusers, there’s one
group that’s standing out from
the rest.
‘Take Back the Hub’ is a
drug-combatting organization
ran by community activists
Marty Rogers and Sister
Patrice Owens of Immaculate
Conception School at 378 E.
151st Street.
One initiative conducted by
Take Back the Hub is weekly
rallies calling attention to the
frequent overdosing in the
area of East 149th Street and
Third Avenue under the moniker
‘Sound The Alarm.’
At one of its most recent rallies
on Saturday, December 15
Sound The Alarm showcased
three orange juice containers
jammed with hypodermic needles
and other drug paraphernalia
just left on the streets of
The Hub.
Using colorful chalk in
the Hub’s newly constructed
plaza, rally goers write messages
on the sidewalks intoning
the community’s many
Sister Owens at the rally. Mike Kamber/Bronx Documentary Center
efforts to take back The Hub
from those that are addicted
to drugs.
“We call it Sound The
Alarm because this is an
emergency and things need to
change now,” Rogers said. “We
don’t want you to sit with us,
we want you to walk with us,
we want you to see the problems
that this area is swarmed
with,” the activist added. He
pointed out that there are
30 drug treatment facilities
within two miles of The Hub,
which draw the drug users to
the area.
Rogers believes that the
various programs shoo-out
the habitual drug users, when
they should be providing a
more holistic approach to the
problem, such as providing
beds for those affl icted to get
their lives back in order.
“Throwing (the drug users)
back out on the street at
night hasn’t worked, it very
obvious. Treatments need to
be extended further. We need
more thorough treatment
programs here,” Rogers said.
Sr. Owens has seen the
drug epedemic reach her
doorstep, literally, in the form
of drugged out individuals
camping out on the church’s
front staircase.
More than that, the NYC
Department of Sanitation has
added insult to injury, fi ning
the church for the discarded
cardboard boxes and other
paraphernalia that the drug
users leave on the streeet in
front of the church.
“The fi nes are $60 dollars
and we’re apparently responsible
to clean up after them,”
Sr. Owens said.
“We’re not demonizing the
(drug users), that’s not what
this is about, but enough is
enough. We want these people
cared for and we also want to
protect our community,” she
said.
Both Sr. Owens and Rogers
have successfully reached out
to the area’s youth to sound
the proverbial alarm.
Christopher Betancourt,
a 16-year-old junior at Fordham
Preparatory School, is
one of those that has heeded
the call. He is deeply involved
with Sound the Alarm; he also
lives near The Hub on Morris
Avenue.
“The fi rst thing I see on my
way to catch the Bx 41 bus to
school is people unconscious
on the ground, sometimes
laying in their own waste, all
completely knocked cold by
drugs,” he said. “Everyday I
have to walk through the problem.
This effects me directly,”
the junior activist added.
He along with Rogers and
Sr. Owens continue to call on
the Bronx to literally ‘walk
the walk’ with Take Back The
Hub and Sound The Alarm.
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