Grapevine Center hosts annual Recovery Fest
The Grapevine Center in Butler hosted its annual Recovery Fest on Friday afternoon, June 28.
According to Richard Blues, program manager for the Grapevine Center, the theme for this year’s event was “Festival of Champions.”
“Everybody’s a champion of their recovery,” Blues explained.
Some of the activities offered at Recovery Fest included Jenga, bingo and a pool tournament. The center also showcased their mental health assistance programs — such as the drop-in center, which is open seven days a week, and the Warmline, which is open three hours a day for whenever a person needs someone to talk to.
Multiple community organizations set up shop outside the Grapevine Center, including NAMI Butler County and Pennsylvania CompeerCorps, the latter of which is a peer-to-peer mental health organization targeted to veterans. Representatives from CompeerCorps handed out ice pops on the 81-degree day to “freeze out stigma.”
“Basically, Recovery Fest is a chance to give people a break from the services they get, because mental health services can be overwhelming for a lot of folks,” Blues said.
The centerpiece of the event was the cornhole tournament, which was ultimately won by Cody Ehrmentrout. Ehrmentrout, who routinely goes to the center for mental health treatment for schizophrenia, said this was the first Recovery Fest he attended and that he would love to come back for more.
