On today’s edition of Stateside, we spoke with Caitlin Koucky, the executive director of the Petoskey-based Community Recovery Alliance, which provides opioid addiction services in five surrounding counties. With recent increases in grants and funding, overdoses are down, ambulance runs are less frequent and more people have access to the life-saving drug Narcan, which reverses overdoses.
Then, we met Allendale sculpture and portraiture artist Jeffrey Augustine Songco, whose work has been featured in the Gerald R. Ford International Airport, Corewell Health in Grand Rapids and more. Originally involved in theater, Songco is passionate about both portraiture and suspended sculptures, and is now able to do art full time.
Next, IPR’s Claire Keenan-Kurgan took us to the Traverse City Children’s Garden, where an initiative is helping kids with different disabilities by providing physical and occupational therapy during the summer, when school services are not available. A different therapist is invited each week, and throughout the program kids get to exercise their fine motor skills and spend time outdoors in an accessible environment.
Lastly, we revisited a conversation we had in 2021 with Olympian Hannah Roberts, who grew up in Buchannan. She competed with Team USA at the Olympics in the BMX Freestyle event, and returned to Paris this summer to compete again. BMX came to the Olympics in 2008, and for Roberts, it gives some younger kids who might not be involved in other sports a way to relate to the Olympics.
[Get Stateside on your phone: subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or YouTube Music today.]
GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Caitlin Koucky, executive director of the Community Recovery Alliance
- Jeffrey Augustine Songco, portraiture and sculpture artist
- Claire Keenan-Kurgan, Interlochen Public Radio Summer Intern
- Hannah Roberts, BMX freestyle athlete for USA Cycling
