The Drug Free Montgomery County Coalition brought community members together Tuesday morning for its annual Red Ribbon Breakfast, highlighting local efforts to prevent substance use and sharing a message of hope through recovery.
Held at the Montgomery County Youth Service Bureau, the breakfast serves as a reminder that substance use affects the entire community and that recovery is possible.
DFMC Director Diamond Justus spoke about the importance of continuing prevention efforts, particularly as Montgomery County saw a slight increase in overdose-related deaths last year.
According to the Indiana State Department of Health, Montgomery County recorded 10 overdose-related deaths in 2025, up from eight in both 2023 and 2024. The county previously recorded 18 deaths in 2021 and 11 in 2022.
While the county has made progress in recent years, Justus said the increase shows there is still work to be done.
“Our work and dedication needs to continue, by raising awareness, reducing shame, spreading education, decreasing barriers and increasing access to the resources that our community members need,” Justus said.
This year’s guest speaker, Bruce Kelley, regional director of business development with Hickory House Recovery, shared his personal experience with addiction and his nearly seven years of sobriety, with a message that addiction does not discriminate based on age, background or financial success.
Kelley described growing up in a middle-class family on the east side of Indianapolis before eventually taking over his family’s business, getting married and raising two sons.
For much of his adult life, Kelley said, he maintained a successful career, owned a home and supported his family. Despite occasional drug and alcohol use in his younger years, he never believed addiction would become part of his life.
“Everything was fine. I was growing financially. I was growing with houses, and everything looked good on paper,” Kelley said.
That changed later in life when he sold the family business and purchased a body shop in Broad Ripple. What began with drinking and pills eventually progressed to cocaine and crack cocaine use.
By age 58, Kelley said, he was struggling with addiction while continuing to operate his business and attempting to hide his drug use from those closest to him.
His addiction eventually cost him his business and strained his relationship with his girlfriend at the time, who is now his wife. After reaching a breaking point, Kelley sought treatment at a recovery program in Tennessee.
Although he initially planned to stay for 28 days, he remained in treatment for 13 1/2 months.
“I learned how to live again, and I learned how to have fun again in sobriety,” Kelley said.
Since returning to Indiana, Kelley has rebuilt his life and developed relationships with his two sons that he said he did not have before getting sober. He has also found a career helping others navigate recovery, something he said has become an important part of maintaining his own sobriety.
He said his experience taught him the importance of gratitude, accountability and remaining open to change.
“I get into recovery thinking I’m going to just get sober, and I learned how to live a life that’s totally different than I lived before,” Kelley said.
Kelley now travels throughout Indiana speaking about recovery through his work with Hickory House Recovery. He said sharing his experience allows him to give back while helping him maintain his own sobriety.
He also encouraged those attending the breakfast to recognize that addiction can develop at any stage of life, even among people who appear to be doing well.
“I think it’s important to see that you don’t have to be 20 years old living in the street to be a drug addict, and it happened to me late in life,” Kelley said.
In addition to Kelley’s message, Justus highlighted several accomplishments by DFMC and its community partners over the past year.
Among those efforts was the coalition’s first community screening of “The Addict’s Wake” this spring. Following the screening’s success, the coalition plans to host another next spring.
The film has also been used as an educational tool with law enforcement, Court Appointed Special Advocates and student organizations, including Students Against Destructive Decisions and Bring Change to Mind.
The coalition also added its sixth committee, the Mind Committee, focused on mental health, and continued its middle and high school youth summits, now entering their fifth year.
Other efforts included implementing Juvenile Prime for Life in partnership with Montgomery County Probation. The program provides substance use prevention and intervention education for youth.
Justus also highlighted the coalition’s work to distribute funding to local organizations addressing substance use.
This year, the coalition awarded more than $47,000 to community agencies working in prevention and education, treatment and intervention, and law enforcement and criminal justice.
An additional $147,000 was distributed through the 2026 Opioid Settlement Funds Mini-Grant cycle to local agencies working to reduce substance use.
Montgomery County was also selected to speak before the Indiana Commission to Combat Substance Use Disorder at the Statehouse about its opioid settlement funding process.
Other accomplishments included the release of the Montgomery County Suicide & Overdose Fatality Review Team’s first public annual report, several Narcan training sessions and continued community events such as Rock Out Recovery, Celebration of Unity and National Night Out.
Justus also recognized the coalition’s Harm Reduction Committee for consistently exceeding its goal of collecting 1,000 pounds of unused medications every six months through drug take-back events and year-round disposal locations.
The coalition has exceeded that goal for three consecutive years.
She thanked First Christian Church for providing space for recent drug take-back events and Crawfordsville Police Lt. Bob Rivers for his work coordinating the effort.
Justus also recognized the City of Crawfordsville for its continued support of the Quick Response Team, Montgomery County officials and the many organizations and volunteers involved in the coalition’s work.
A special recognition was given to Karen Branch, who will retire at the end of the year after 15 years with the Youth Service Bureau.
“For so many years, Karen was the fighting force behind this coalition’s efforts, and we owe her a million thank-yous for the work she has done to expand this coalition into what it has become today,” Justus said.
As Red Ribbon Week approaches, Justus encouraged those attending to continue raising awareness, supporting prevention efforts and helping connect residents with resources.
