November has always been a month for reflection and giving thanks, and so it is with Merrimack Safeguard, a community based group dedicated to addressing issues of substance abuse among the youth of Merrimack by supporting efforts to help them make positive choices.

Merrimack Safeguard is supported by a wide array of community partners representing a cross section of community interests. Each one of these sectors does important work on behalf of Merrimack’s youth and we’d like to take the opportunity afforded by this season of thanks to recognize with gratitude all the things these members of Merrimack Safeguard do to ensure that our youth and families make positive choices.

The Merrimack Police Department, as one of the original members of Merrimack Safeguard, deserves special thanks for its work in direct support of Merrimack youth. In particular, Merrimack Middle School Resource Officer Tom Prentice, Merrimack High School Resource Officer Mike Murray, Community Resource/PACT Officer Rob Kelliher, and Detective Lt. Paul Trepaney actively promote positive choices through their work with students in Merrimack schools. The daily presence of Merrimack Police officers in our schools provides powerful role models to students at critical developmental stages. But perhaps the most consequential effect of their presence in our schools is deterrence. Rather than deal with youth after a bad choice has brought them to the attention of the police, these officers are well positioned to support youth to make better choices. Like a good teacher, it is impossible to know where the influence of these officers ends. We are grateful that they are part of Merrimack Safeguard.

It may be a surprise to some, but Merrimack has a number of homeless families and Merrimack Safeguard has a sector partner whose sole focus is support of those families in our area. One of these partners is Marguerite’s Place in Nashua. “(Its goal is to) empower homeless women with children to move on to better lives.” Beverly Doolan, director of Development at Marguerite’s Place, is also an active member of Merrimack Safeguard and provides us all with a practical understanding of the needs people have, the challenges people face and the support people require when they encounter difficult times. The excellent work Marguerite’s Place does daily to support families in need is tightly aligned with the work and mission of Merrimack Safeguard. We are thankful indeed that they are one of our sector partners.

The faith community in Merrimack is represented on Merrimack Safeguard by Pastor Sharon Lovejoy of St. James United Methodist Church. Pastor Lovejoy allows Merrimack Safeguard use of the church’s meeting facility on Daniel Webster Highway, which is large enough to host a substantial and growing number of Merrimack Safeguard participants. In addition, Pastor Lovejoy provides an invaluable perspective on the issue of substance abuse informed by an understanding of the role that the faith community can play in being an additional source of support during challenging times. Merrimack Safeguard is better for this unique contribution and we are grateful that the faith community is such an active partner in our efforts.

The mission of the Greater Nashua Youth Council is to “build strong families-free from abuse, addiction, and court involvement.” Its executive director, Betsy Abrahams, is also the project director for Merrimack Safeguard and serves as Safeguard’s liaison to the federal government, ensuring that we remain in compliance with federal regulations governing the five-year grant that supports key elements of the work of Merrimack Safeguard. This connection, between the Nashua Youth Council and Merrimack Safeguard, provides an invaluable benefit to the work of the coalition, ensuring that its mission of supporting families and youth to make positive choices is grounded in practical, tested and results oriented methods. Merrimack Safeguard is enriched by its association with the Greater Nashua Youth Council, but, more important, the youth of our community gain most from this powerful partnership. And we are grateful for it.

The medical community is represented on Merrimack Safeguard by Merrimack Medical Center and nurse Pam Kenney. As we all know, substance abuse carries with it innumerable physical and emotional consequences and Merrimack Safeguard is enriched by its partnership with Merrimack Medical Center because it enables us to better understand, deal with, and educate about, those consequences. Since the mission of Merrimack Safeguard is to ensure that our youth and families make positive choices, this powerful association ensures a greater possibility that Merrimack Safeguard can productively support that mission. We offer our deep thanks to this outstanding community resource for its partnership and ongoing support.

The organization called Beyond Influence, formerly known as the Greater Nashua Community Prevention Coalition, states that its mission is to “engage members of its partner communities in a coordinated effort to promote behaviors that measurably improve the health and well being of our youth and young adults, with a focus on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention.” Merrimack, as one of the partner communities of Beyond Influence, has enjoyed the benefits of this association for many years. However, as one of the members of Merrimack Safeguard, Beyond Influence, and its regional coordinator Donna Arias, has brought to the Merrimack community a whole new level of awareness, an impressive number of resources, and access to agencies and support system far beyond what we could do on our own. Their contributions to our efforts are hard to quantify and harder still to overestimate. In fact, Donna Arias was co-author of our successful Drug Free Community grant, worth $125,000 annually for up to 10 years. Merrimack Safeguard is indebted to this organization for all they have done, and continue to do, for the youth and families of our community.

Merrimack Safeguard is enriched by many other community partners as well and we are grateful to all of them for their generous contributions of time, ideas, resources and good will. In celebration of these partners and their contributions to the health and wellness of youth in our community, there was a celebration open to all members of the Merrimack community on Thursday, Dec. 8.