In the year since the Scarborough Police Department unveiled its Operation HOPE program to assist those afflicted by opioid addiction, it has placed more than 200 people in a variety of substance abuse recovery programs in Maine and out of state.

To celebrate that achievement and to raise money for future placements, NorDx Laboratories and Project GRACE are partnering to sponsor a Fall Charity Festival on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., at the lab’s offices off Route 1. All proceeds will benefit Operation HOPE

This family-friendly event will include raffles and a silent auction, face and pumpkin painting, bake and craft sales, police and fire rescue vehicles, a kids and adult costume parade and more. The rain date is Oct. 16.

Matt Driscoll, the communications manager for Nordx, said his company came up with the idea for the charity festival as a way to both “give back to our community and raise money and awareness of the wonderful program that is Operation HOPE. We would like people to (understand) Operation HOPE and its importance. We would also like people to (realize) that together we can make a difference in many lives.”

Steffi Cox, the executive director at Project GRACE, can’t say enough about how committed Nordx is to the upcoming charity festival. She said the company “really built this whole idea from the ground up.”

What Cox most appreciates about Operation HOPE and the community response is that the program “has really inspired people from all walks of life” to jump in and work to make a difference.

“Now that we’ve placed over 200 people into Operation HOPE and celebrated our one-year anniversary, we have a lot of thank you’s to pass around,” including to those “who’ve embraced our thinking outside the box approach to doing something to help,” Scarborough police said on a Facebook post.

“When we first started we said if we could save one or two lives it would be worth it. We never expected it to become what it has,” the post added. “We couldn’t operate without the Portland Recovery Community Center, and we definitely could not operate without our amazing volunteers. I hope each of you are proud of the work you’ve accomplished.”

For more information about the festival, contact Driscoll at 396-7905 or email [email protected].

– Kate Irish Collins