Cory Joy has recently taken over as executive director of Do Something, serving as a resource for those in the community struggling with addiction or walking in recovery.
Abigail Youmans | The Democrat
When Cory and Michelle Joy’s son Caleb passed away in 2017 from an accidental overdose, it launched them into a whole new world of learning about substance use disorder and its cause.
From that tragedy, the local nonprofit Do Something was born.
This year, Cory Joy shifted from role of Do Something founder and board member to the nonprofit’s full-time executive director.
“It’s not just drugs, it’s not just addiction,” he said. “There’s this whole world of coping and people that need resources and need help. There are resources. It was a real struggle to get the two to connect.”
Along with learning about that disconnect in Do Something’s beginnings was the realization that a lot of people are struggling with active-use, but no one is talking about it.
“If you can get people talking, you can get forward progress and encourage them in gaining some freedom, so we launched Do Something,” he said.
Do Something is two-fold, taking inspiration from the Bible verse James 1:22.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says,” the scripture reads.
Joy said it’s simple: Love God and love people.
“If you can do that, you can be proactive in their life and encourage them in pointing them into a direction (of recovery),” he said. “We all have the ability to do something.”
Every single person has the ability to say an encouraging word and share information that inspires help and hope, Joy said.
The name for the nonprofit came to the couple during a Sunday morning service just after Caleb had passed away.
A young man at the service was praying and said the local Brown County community needs help. The pastor said that the young man’s skateboard ministry had been given a hard time by the older population, but the pastor said it’s a “do something” ministry.
Joy said they were committed to making sure they didn’t get stuck in the grief of losing a son, but used it as “a mechanism for God taking their mourning and turning it into something beautiful.”
“It was not a ministry we asked for, a situation we prayed for, but we felt like this was what was handed to us so we were going to run with it,” Joy said.
The board of Do Something is made of people who have family members struggling with addiction or they themselves have struggled in the past and are in recovery.
In 2019 they held their first annual Hope Fest, an event to recognize those lost to addiction, to bring hope to the community and remind them that there is freedom. The annual family event returns this weekend on Aug. 20 at Deer Run Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When COVID-19 shut everything down, including group meetings and homes, Joy said it seemed there was a false sense of, “no one is struggling anymore.”
The reality was depression, anxiety, addiction and suicide rates went up, he said.
After pandemic restrictions eased, Joy said the board found themselves asking what they were to do going forward.
“We needed to back up a little bit and revamp,” he said.
“What is Do Something called to do?” they asked themselves.
“We say we partner with people in the community to connect them to resources so that they can find freedom and wholeness and health — what does that look like in today’s culture?” Joy said.
“We were really at a crossroad.”
With the pandemic the board found those struggling were not coming forward for help. The board had become disconnected from people and resources, but substance use disorder was still a prevalent issue.
Being a working board, Joy said they found the intentions were there but “rubber wasn’t meeting the road.”
Hiring an executive director continued to be an identified need.
Do Something took a “leap of faith” by forming the full-time executive director role in February in order to get them connected with as many resources as possible, Joy said.
Joy fought the idea of being executive director at first. He found himself asking, “Who am I to be in a leadership position of a recovery ministry, who actually hasn’t been at the level (of addiction)?”
After praying and thinking more about the decision, he said it just made sense.
“I felt like in prayer the Lord released me and said, ‘It’s you,’” he said. “I fought it for some time. Michelle and I were driving one day and I said, ‘I think I’m supposed to be executive director.’”
She said to him, “Yes you are.”
“That was confirmation,” Joy said.
As executive director, Joy will be available to interact daily with people in the community and offer resources while bringing awareness.
Part of the awareness is being involved with Brown County Schools for prevention education and with the Brown County Recovery and Wellness Coalition.
“It’s amazing to see how many people are in the background, staying quiet and struggling, more isolated than they ever have been before. Yet, we have an increasing amount of resources out there,” he said.
“There are more recovery homes, programs, housing available in the state and around – there’s an increased amount of resources available to people, so now we’re in that world of connecting people to the resources.”
With addiction there is an element of shame, Joy said.
“At times people feel like if they can’t help themselves, who else will be able to help them,” he said. “That’s just not true. The reality is most can’t do it on their own and they actually need people to come alongside them in their recovery.”
Joy said he heard someone say one day that addiction comes from isolation, recovery comes from community.
Stepping into this new role, Joy has been going to workshops, meeting with local and state resources and learning what funds are available to provide resources for the community.
“Our plan is that as people become more comfortable and willing to come forward and ask for help, we actually now have the amount of resources and options they need,” he said.
Recovery is not a “one size fits all” as one program that works for one person will not work for three others for various reasons, Joy said.
‘Love people well’
Joy is also the pastor of a local church, Encounter Life Ministries (ELM). He said his two roles blend well.
He said that if pastors say their congregations are “perfect and great,” the reality is that is not true.
Many walking in addiction don’t come to church because they’re ashamed, he said.
“They feel like they’re going to be judged, they don’t feel like it’s going to be a safe place, or that they’ll be welcomed,” he said.
“As a pastor … it’s important that our congregation knows that we’re all in recovery from sin, past life and mistakes we’ve made. You can talk to anybody struggling and see we’re all in recovery in some way.”
Joy said he will not forget a moment when a congregant once told him she was bothered by those struggling with addiction and she did not want to be known as “the recovery church.”
“I remember that and I said, ‘I want to be known as the recovery church, not just for people who are in addiction, but for anyone struggling and walking without Jesus.’” he said.
“I hope they would come running into a church and we make an environment safe for them. … The church is to love people well wherever they are, whatever predicament they’re in, to love them and help them and be a catalyst to help them find freedom whatever it is.”
Another blending of the two positions plays a part in the role of the Launch House, which ELM purchased from Do Something this year.
Joy said the board realized they were able to help people without a storefront or building, but just by meeting people where they are.
“We felt like in the beginning we had a vision for the building for people to come have meetings, take part and it was being used in that way, but everyone dispersed when COVID hit,” he said.
They had been gifted the building, which is on Gould Street, and were faced with two options: Taking money and renovating the building, but not fulfilling their goal of helping those in need of any financial assistance. Or they could not renovate, but then the building would be of no use to them.
Do Something has been able to provide airplane tickets, bus tickets along with covering the first two or three weeks of rent for those in a group home and much more to those in need.
“We want to have funds available to help with that,” he said. “Not to say we won’t have another building in the future.”
ELM purchased the lot next to the Launch House, so Joy said it made sense to sell the house to them. ELM’s goal is to open the building as a youth center available to kids after school.
Do Something has also partnered with another nonprofit, Tapestry Family Services, to offer a class on trauma, its causes, coping mechanisms, decision-making, effect on relationships, boundaries and more. The next session starts in late September. For more information visit the “Do Something, BC” Facebook page.
For now, Joy said that Do Something is ready and willing to help anyone walking through addiction and in recovery.
“We’re here,” he said. “We’re still here to help.”
More about Hope Fest
Hope Fest is happening this weekend on Aug. 20, but will look a little different this year. This year’s event will be at Deer Run Park, featuring a carnival theme with games, prizes and free food from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Churches and other local and state resources will have booths set up with free gifts and games. A “Best Skateboard Trick” contest will be at Victory Skate Park at 1 p.m.
“Hope Fest is about bringing hope,” Joy said. “We believe that hope starts at the church, with churches, it’s found within our resources and those who help people find freedom.”
It will also be a day of fun for all ages.
“A lot of people have not been coming to Hope Fest because they think it’s just for those in recovery or those in addiction, but reality is it’s for the community,” Joy said.
Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day and September is National Recovery Month. Joy said they felt August is a great time to bring both days to the forefront.
More events will be added to the calendar for Do Something, including the softball tournament — which is usually alongside Hope Fest — in order to space out events throughout the year.
More details about that and other events will be announced at a later time. For more information visit the “Do Something, BC” Facebook page and visit their website dosomethingnashville.org.
