I happened upon an item in the last City Council agenda that intrigued me … it was Boulder City Sunrise Rotary’s presentation of a $25,000 donation to Boulder City’s “Breaking the Cycle” program.
After looking into it a little, I found out they were actually donating $50,000 on behalf of an anonymous benefactor (not the $25,000 originally listed in the agenda). And since Sunrise Rotary donated $30,000 to start things up last year, that brings the total amount of support to this program to $80,000! Yowsa, that’s a hefty donation to something I didn’t know existed, so I called on some of my Sunrise Rotary peeps to bring me up-to-speed and not only got the information, but an invitation to see it in action.
So, what is it? “Breaking the Cycle” is a program run through the Boulder City Municipal Court and overseen by Judge Victor L. Miller that provides intervention, treatment and rehabilitation to misdemeanor criminal offenders with alcohol or chemical dependencies.
If an offer to enter the (minimum) one-year program is extended by the court, the participants receive intensive treatment and the other services they require to get and stay clean and sober instead of serving jail time. The treatment and services include things such as:
- The issuance of a SCRAM device (the type of ankle bracelet that electronically transmits reports of whether or not the wearer has consumed alcohol)
- The issuance of a GPS-monitoring bracelet while the wearer is on house-arrest (or as long as is necessary)
- Regular and random drug tests
- Regular attendance at group and/or individual therapy sessions
- Obtaining a GED (high school graduation equivalency)
- Seek and ultimately gain employment
- Required attendance at frequent court meetings so the judge may review their progress through the program
The required court meetings are held after regular court hours and are attended by the participants, Judge Miller, Court Clerks and Administration and Court Marshalls. At the meeting I attended, court officials from Mesquite, NV were in attendance because they want to start their own program to mirror ours, so that was cool to see.
I was invited to the meeting I attended as a guest of Sunrise Rotary, not only so I could write this post accurately, but because a special celebration was taking place … the very first graduation from the program since its inception. It was very cool to see this young woman headed in a positive direction and I imagine it would have been even more profound had I seen here when she started the program. Congratulations on your achievement, “Young Lady Who Shall Remain Unnamed” and very best wishes to the other ten young men and women in attendance that evening … we’re rooting for you!
UPDATE: After receiving a few emails asking how people can donate to help support this program, I looked into it and have these two options for those interested:
- Checks can be made payable to “City of Boulder City” with a designation in the memo portion of the check that it is for the Breaking the Cycle program. It would be best if that donation was given to the court administrator (at the municipal courthouse) — her name is Bernadette Graham.
- A tax-deductible dontation can be made payable to “Boulder City Sunrise Rotary Foundation”, which is a 501c3 non-profit, again with a designation in the memo portion of the check that it is for the Breaking the Cycle program. Checks can be sent to Sunrise Rotary at P.O. Box 60905, Boulder City, NV 89005.
