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Ex-gang leader to host cleanup, vaccination event to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month

Telegram & Gazette - 5/7/2021

WORCESTERDerrick Kiser, the former city gang leader who now leads a nonprofit aimed at addressing trauma in kids, is hosting a community cleanup and vaccination event Saturday at City Hall to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month.

“Mental health doesn’t have a geography, color or race,” Kiser, who has invited leaders from the community, legislature and police, said this week, stressing the importance, especially during the current times, of mental health awareness.

Kiser said the last year – from the global pandemic to widespread unrest regarding racial injustice – should be a reason to draw together and rally around the common experience of trauma.

All people – from people of color to police officers – struggle with mental health as a result of trauma, he noted, and raising awareness of the topic has never been more important.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Kiser’s nonprofit, Fresh Start, and several others, including Everyday Miracles Peer Recover Center, will host tables, talk about mental health and kick off a city cleanup event that will run the next five Saturdays.

“Especially in these times, where everybody has been isolated, the mental health aspect took a really bad hit,” Michael Earielo, program director for Everyday Miracles, said. “People need to hear, ‘It’s OK to not be OK, and to ask for help.' ”

Earielo, who has two decades of experience with his own addiction struggles and recovery, said isolation has been particularly difficult on those battling substance abuse.

“We’ve seen a lot of relapses with people with multiple years of recovery,” he said.

Earielo and Kiser are old friends, having both been initial members of the Kilby Street Posse gang in the 1980s.

Now, they’re working to better the community, with Kiser hoping to mentor at-risk kids and Earielo helping people combat addiction.

Key to Kiser’s efforts is connecting people in the community with police. Kiser said the mental health of police – who face many traumatic situations, and have high suicide rates – needs more attention, and less stigma. He believes bringing police and community members together on the topic will lead to greater understanding.

Kiser said he’s invited leaders from the police department, sheriff’s office and district attorney’s office to attend. He said he’s also invited politicians, and expects State Sen. Michael O. Moore of Millbury and Worcester District 1 Councilor Sean Rose to speak.

Woodrow Adams Jr., the Worcester courthouse officer who runs the nonprofit 508 Forever Young, will also be in attendance.

“It’s necessary for our community to get together and make sure we take care of where we come from,” said Adams, whose nonprofit works to provide educational supplies for kids and to prevent youth violence.

“We are in need of positive role models to inspire children to live meaningful lives,” Adams said. “We want to show our young people to live with integrity, determination, compassion and hope for success.”

Earielo said he hopes for a strong community showing at the event.

“People need to bring their children out to show what community service looks like,” he said. “We can’t sit back and wait for somebody else to do it. It starts with us.”

In addition to music from longtime city D.J. Chuck Chillin’, Saturday’s event will feature free haircuts from Headline and Fade King’s barbershops.

Employees of one of Fresh Start’s sponsors, Good Chemistry, will be helping with the cleanup, Kiser said, and another partner, the Massachusetts Pirates, will have a table and mascot.

The city will also have a free COVID-19 vaccination clinic for underserved and diverse populations, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Kiser said the cleanup is one of five that will take place on Saturdays in successive weeks in different areas of the city.

Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ex-gang leader to host cleanup, vaccination event to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month

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