BY GINNY PRIVITAR
WEST MILFORD — Rebecca Stumpf is the new CASA (Community Against Substance Abuse) coordinator for West Milford. Stumpf is a registered nurse who previously worked at Jersey City Medical Center. She brings to the position wide experience as a health care professional and has been personally affected by addiction, as so many people have.
Drug abuse is a problem for all of New Jersey, which has seen a surge in heroin use and deaths over the past four years.
"It’s a bad problem all over and it would be doing our kids an injustice to ignore it," Stumpf said.
Stumpf wants to not only maintain the programs that the community has come to expect of CASA, but improve upon them.
The primary purpose of CASA is to develop and implement plans and programs on a continuing basis that will reduce alcoholism, violence and drug abuse in the township.
It is not a treatment organization, but it can provide programs, referrals and support for people in recovery.
CASA, first organized in West Milford in 1989, targets middle school students with their drug awareness and prevention programs. Counselors go into all the 6th grades in West Milford's school system. But Stumpf hopes to move forward on that. "I'd like to try to target all age groups with the methods appropriate to their age," she said.
Right now, Stumpf said the organization does a lot of fun things, including an upcoming semi-formal dance for 7th and 8th graders. However, they are now in a needs-assessment phase and will be exploring new programs incorporating prevention. Any new programs should be evidence-based, she added.
CASA differs from DARE in that it is a municipal alliance committee. All the positions on the committee are voted on by the town council and put in place by the town government. There is representation from 12 different sectors of the township, including government, law enforcement, health care professionals and religious leaders.
The group hopes to increase awareness and visibility of their programs in the town, and Stumpf is working on a website to that end.
CASA is funded by grants from the Governor's Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and supported by West Milford residents and local businesses. More volunteers are always welcome and the public is invited to attend CASA meetings which are held on the second or third Monday of the month, depending on the month. The next meeting will be held on April 17 at the Hillcrest Community Center, 1810 Macopin Road, starting at 7 p.m.
C.A.S.A. has a drug and alcohol information center with free pamphlets and videos to loan out at the Hillcrest Community Center. Additional contacts are also available, Contact Stumpf at 973-728-2881 for more information, or email casa@westmilford.org.
Stumpf and her husband, Paul, have two daughters, Rachel, 1, and Hannah, 5, and have lived in West Milford since 2008.
Stumpf also likes to cook kid-friendly dishes, including this chili dish that kids just love.