Press Releases

LOWELL, MA – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) and Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02) applauded the awarding of $125,000 in federal grant funding from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention to LUK, Inc., a not-for-profit social service agency based in Fitchburg that provides critical services to communities throughout North Central Massachusetts.

“Cases of addiction and substance use disorder have continued to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic across all demographics, and young people have sadly not been immune,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “Ensuring that organizations like LUK have the resources they need to continue combating drug and substance abuse is more important than ever. This funding will go a long way toward preventing the use of alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine usage by teens and youth in Leominster.”

“Massachusetts knows all too well the terrible toll that substance use disorder has taken on our communities. Sadly, COVID-19 has only exacerbated the many challenges we face in addressing this problem,” said Congressman McGovern. “I’m hopeful that this grant will be a big help as LUK continues their work to prevent substance abuse among teens and adolescents, empower families, provide care, and even save lives.”

“We are very excited to continue to build upon our long-standing partnership with the Leominster Community Action Team,” said Cassandra Foley, LUK's Director of Community Engagement and Support. “This funding will enable the coalition to implement evidence-based strategies to prevent the use of alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine among youth in Leominster." 

“We are thrilled to have received the DFC grant,” added Catherine Gaudt, BSN, RN, NCSN, Nurse Manager in Leominster Public School System. “This will aid in our efforts to prevent adolescent and teen substance use and abuse in our community.”

Background:

Throughout her time in Congress, Trahan has been a strong proponent of legislation that seeks to end the addiction crisis and bolster mental health and substance abuse services. She is proud to be an original cosponsor of the CARE Act, an ambitious piece of legislation that would provide state and local governments with $100 billion in federal funding over ten years to help combat the opioid epidemic.

Additionally, Trahan is a member of the Freshman Working Group on Addiction, a bipartisan group working to better understand the far-reaching effects of addiction and to implement comprehensive policies to mitigate overdoses and deaths across the nation. In that role, Trahan introduced the National Family Caregiver Support Program Cap Elimination Act, bipartisan legislation that removes a funding cap under the Older Americans Act (OAA) that unnecessarily limits critical aid for older relative caregivers, including grandparents, who are serving in caregiving roles for their grandchildren due to the disrupting effects of the opioid addiction epidemic.

Since 1970, LUK, Inc. has been committed to providing a variety of programs that address mental and behavioral health, trauma, addiction and substance abuse prevention, and homelessness. The agency serves more than 3,700 youth, adults, and families annually, and its prevention, education, and training programs impact another 12,000 individuals. For those who would like to know more about the services offered by LUK during this pandemic, they can find out more by visiting their website or calling 800-579-0000.

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