HOWELL – The Howell Municipal Alliance and the Howell Police Athletic League joined forces to organize the recent “Hope for Howell” vendor fair and fundraiser to raise awareness about substance abuse prevention and to raise money for drug prevention programs.
On the evening of Aug. 16, residents visited the Southard Community Enrichment Center on Kent Road to support the alliance and the PAL.
Adults, children and pets interacted with vendors and sponsors as DJ Greg Nice provided music next to a popular bouncy house and K-9 police dogs teased the other pups with their toys as they played in the shade.
Howell Police Detective Cpl. Michael Pavlick is a coach with the alliance and said organizing the event required a significant amount of work.
“You have to contact vendors, the township, you need permission for everything and you need a lot of help from people. There are a lot of little things that you would not expect you needed to do,” Pavlick said.
Pavlick said he and Josephine Higgins coordinated the fundraiser with the vendors and sponsors. Three months of effort resulted in the community event and put a smile on Higgins’ face.
“I am speechless, to be honest,” Higgins said. “It blew up. We started advertising for it and there are people here from Staten Island, they came down from everywhere, so again I am speechless, because I was not expecting this at all.”
Higgins called Howell Municipal Alliance Coordinator Tracie Kritch her “wingman” in setting up the fundraiser.
Higgins and Pavlick were all over the community center campus during the event and Kritch was one of the first faces guests saw as they entered the grounds. She greeted every visitor with a smile and sought to raise awareness about the alliance and what it seeks to accomplish in Howell.
“Hopefully we will bring awareness to the alliance and whoever feels they want to get involved with the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse, that hopefully something like this will help them see it is a community need,” Kritch said.
The mission of the Howell Municipal Alliance is to collaborate with residents, schools, police, businesses, the township and local organizations to prevent drug addiction, underage drinking and tobacco use by promoting public awareness, education, outreach resources, life skills and positive choices.
The alliance publishes a quarterly newsletter called The Prevention Press which is distributed in print and electronically.
