The Patriot Ledger
By Sean Philip Cotter
QUINCY — Local officials heaped praise on Congressman Stephen Lynch and the Gavin Foundation on Thursday, saying the two are helping lead the fight in the area against continuing drug issues.
The city gave its annual community-development award to Lynch, a South Boston Democrat who represents much of the South Shore, including Quincy.
Mayor Thomas Koch, speaking at a ceremony in the basement of the Gavin Foundation detoxification facility at 43 Old Colony Ave., said the award usually goes to people carrying out community-development efforts in the city, but this year would go to the member of Congress who has fought to keep federal money coming in.
“We wouldn’t have any of that if we didn’t have the funds,” Koch said.
Quincy hands out this award every year during community-development week, an annual celebration of programs supported by federal funds including Community Development Block Grants.
Lynch said the money from the grants supports important work going on at the detox center. And, he said, getting the money to Quincy for the Koch administration to disburse was a recipe for success.
“Not a nickel of that would be wasted,” the congressman said.
The city has received $1.7 million this fiscal year to allocate through the block grant program, a longstanding Housing and Urban Development initiative meant to be spent to help people with low incomes. The federal government has given Quincy $87.8 million since it began in 1975, according to city community development director Sean Glennon, who oversees the allocation of the money.
Lynch praised John McGahan, the chief executive officer of Gavin, calling his friend “St. John.”
“John McGahan and the Gavin houses have been a blessing to me in my life and with my family,” he said.
The South Boston-based Gavin Foundation took control of the former Phoenix House detox center in the Wollaston area earlier this year. The facility has 64 beds, with half of them for detox purposes and the other half for a step-down unit after detox.
On Thursday, McGahan talked about the need for robust treatment options.
“There’s no mystery we’re going through an opiate epidemic,” he said. “Too many people are dying from overdoses.”
He said it affects people of all walks of life, and many in Quincy.
“Those are our brothers and sisters and neighbors and community members,” he said.
Reach Sean Cotter at scotter@ledger.com.
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