Williams ’20 Raises Funds to Deliver Care Packages to Congregate Care Settings

Despite the effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on much of the population, a recent alumnus’ addiction and wellness recovery program continues to offer essential services and compassion for local residents in need.

Patricelli Center Fellow and Posse Veteran Scholar Lance Williams ’20 created his program, Follow Me Home, in 2017. Based at the Trinity Episcopal Church in nearby Portland, Conn., Follow Me Home partners with local mental health care providers, recovery treatment facilities, and other community-based organizations to provide Follow Me Home Fellows with the infrastructure to build their social networks and recovery capital.

“As [the state reopens], there are many who are still suffering from the mental health fall-out from this natural disaster,” Williams wrote in a recent Engage blog.

On June 1, Williams celebrated Follow Me Home’s first GoFundMe campaign, which raised more than $1,100 and afforded the delivery of a weekly care package to more than 60 congregate care settings. Working in partnership with Gilead Community Services, the organizations prepare packages of baked goods and crafts for the deliveries.

“More than a simple act of compassion, these care packages have allowed Gilead’s clinicians and case management teams to safely engage with community members and clients to provide more in-depth services after their main outpatient offices were forced to close,” Williams said.

Follow Me Home is now launching a second GoFundMe campaign to continue the expansion of care package deliveries throughout Connecticut over the next month.

“Our new goal of $2,400 will provide us with the opportunity to continue supporting the care package delivery services and human-centered case management throughout the south-central Connecticut region—a region whose congregate care settings have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic,” Williams said.