Carbon County is using $50,000 of the opioid settlement money to try to help those who are homeless because of an opioid addiction.

Earlier this month, the board of commissioners approved a request from Family Promise of Carbon County asking for $50,000 of the settlement funds to help people in the shelter who are battling opioid addiction. The money would be used to help with meals, job training, housing assistance and linking individuals to services and case management.

Family Promise serves families and single women affected by homelessness for various reasons. It provides shelter and food, while helping the people work to obtain services they need to get back on their feet.

As of last week, Cathy Lamm, director of Family Promise, reported that the organization was housing 31 people, 17 of which were children, and that there is a waiting list.

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko said that Family Promise asked the county for the funding to help some of its residents who have been affected by opioids.

He said that Family Promise will provide quarterly reports on how the money is spent and the results it is having on helping these certain individuals.

“This is a way to reach out and help address the issue,” Sofranko said.

Carbon County has been working to figure out ways to use the over $4.5 million in opioid settlement money it is receiving over a total of 18 years.

The commissioners have used approximately $400,000 on a fentanyl awareness campaign with Monroe and Pike counties since 2022, partnered with Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission on a $54,630 program aimed to help divert inmates into treatment programs instead of incarceration; offered mini-grants to local municipalities, police departments and schools to help provide drug education; and awarded $85,334 to the county coroner for the purchase of a MultiSTAT analyzer for postmortem forensic drug testing to help determine opioid related deaths; $91,305 to CMPDA for community engagement awareness initiatives; $73,479 on prevention case management at Panther Valley and Lehighton schools; and $25,000 to Synchronicity for peer recovery support services.

Over the years, the commissioners noted that the hardest part of spending the money is finding projects that meet the goals, are opioid-oriented and are covered under a stipulation in the settlement allowed usage.