Father Bernard’s Blessed Biscuits was created by a partnership between Jamestown’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County. Key figures in the social enterprise are pictured in the kitchen in St. Luke’s Undercroft (from left): Fr. Luke Fodor, Nicole Gustafson, Sean Jones, and Steven Cobb.

The most recent edition of the newsletter of the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County (MHA) shares the background story of the creation of the new social enterprise, Father Bernard’s Blessed Biscuits.

Father Bernard’s is a collaboration between Jamestown’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Mental Health Association to provide employment training and opportunities for those who have dropped out of the workforce due to mental health concerns and addiction.

The newsletter story describes how in 2015 St. Luke’s rector, Luke Fodor, took a group of youth on a pilgrimage to California where they visited Homeboy Industries, a social enterprise started by Father Greg Boyle, a frequent speaker and chaplain at Chautauqua Institution. Begun where Los Angeles had the highest concentration of gang activity, Homeboy Industries is now the world’s largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program – and was the inspiration for Father Bernard’s Blessed Biscuits.

In his Executive Director’s Message in the same newsletter, Steven Cobb describes the legislative steps New York state has taken toward reducing drug-related overdose deaths and encouraging those suffering from addiction to seek help in their recovery. He also notes the State’s funding to combat, treat and prevent opioid addiction in Chautauqua County.

Other newsletter stories describe the Art of Recovery Exhibit at St. Luke’s that celebrated International Overdose Awareness Day and MHA groups supporting Strong Starts Chautauqua, a life-saving initiative designed to help pregnant women and young children in Chautauqua County.

News briefs include information on the MHA’s participation in the first-ever Give716 giving day presented by the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres foundations, Jamestown-Chautauqua Arts Day at Chautauqua Institution, International Overdose Awareness Day Fair at JCC’s Jamestown campus, Jamestown’s Unity Event that kicked off Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the annual Jamestown Out of the Darkness Walk hosted by the Suicide Prevention Alliance of Chautauqua County, and the MHA’s First Ever Pool Tournament.

To access the MHA’s newsletters online, go to MHAChautauqua.org/newsletters.

For a printed copy, stop in at the Gateway Building Door 14, 31 Water Street in Jamestown, call (716) 661-9044, or email newsletter@MHAChautauqua.org.

For a special holiday treat for your favorite canine(s), visit FatherBernards.com.

With programs in both Jamestown and Dunkirk, the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County is a peer recovery center offering support groups and individual coaching for people looking to improve their lives, deepen wellness, thrive in recovery, or support those on a recovery path. Peers use their personal stories to help people find recovery in their own lives in their own way.

All Mental Health Association services are free.

To learn more about the Mental Health Association, call (716) 661-9044 or visit MHAChautauqua.org or facebook.com/MHAChautauqua.