Kingston-based nonprofit on the front lines of Ulster County’s opioids epidemic is one of 10 local organizations to receive operating grants via the office of Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha (D-Kingston). The $40,000 grant will help the Samadhi Recovery Community implement its mission of providing outreach, emergency housing and other services to people struggling with homelessness, addiction and mental illness.

Founded in 2018, Samadhi offers a range of services rooted in “mindfulness.” Much of the group’s work centers on helping people struggling with substance abuse and especially opioids. In recent months, a Samadhi outreach team has been making daily trips through the Midtown Linear Park, which has become a hub of drug activity and seen a major spike in overdoses. The team, which is on a first-name basis with most of the addicts who frequent the park, hands out harm reduction materials like Narcan and clean needles along with food, clothing and personal care items. The team also maintains relationships with a number of drug treatment centers and can often get willing addicts directly from the streets into a facility. Samadhi also runs a variety of programs at its headquarters on Sawkill Road.

“In many cases, nonprofits like Samadhi are providing critical services that are missing in the public sector,” said Shrestha. “Every single person who’s going through a rough patch in their life, who’s experiencing instability because of an illness, deserves to have someone looking out for them. We hope this funding enables the Samadhi Center to help our vulnerable neighbors get back on their feet.”

Samadhi was one of 10 recipients chosen from among 30 applicants for the grant. The annual grant program is available to municipalities, school districts and nonprofits in Shrestha’s 103rd Assembly District, which includes parts of Ulster and northern Dutchess counties. Other local recipients include the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network ($25,000), which provides services to immigrants regardless of status, and the Arm of the Sea theater company based in Saugerties.