Live4Lali launches 'Stigma Crusher' outreach truck to help fight opioid crisis
Arlington Heights-based Live4Lali on Monday officially launched a mobile harm reduction program, the nonprofit's latest effort to battle the opioid crisis and help those struggling with substance abuse.
The marquee piece of the new outreach program is a purple truck, called The Stigma Crusher, that will travel throughout the suburbs to provide supplies and services to those in need. On board is a bevy of supplies, such as naloxone - the lifesaving overdose reversal drug - clean needles, basic medicine like Benadryl, clothing and food.
Officials with Live4Lali and partners Inspiration Outreach Foundation and Hope for Healing say they plan to target their outreach to the homeless, people on the street using substances daily, and those who may be engaging in sex work.
They say the mobile truck is designed to meet people where they're at.
"It gets us more proximate to people who really need our services," said Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, Live4Lali's executive director. "We're here to talk to them, coach them, and get them help if they want it, treatment and recovery services. We do all of that. We're here just to get anybody who's in need what they need in that moment."
Laliberte co-founded Live4Lali in memory of her brother, Alex, a Stevenson High School graduate who died of a heroin overdose in 2008.
The Stigma Crusher also has a corresponding real-time locator app, Live4Lali Mobile Outreach, for people to find out where the truck is at any given time.
• Daily Herald staff photographer Rick West contributed to this report.