COMTREA is offering a way to help agencies generate money and public support for the future. Whether a non-profit organization provides safe housing from domestic violence, victims’ advocacy programs, community mental health care, substance abuse treatment, or prevention programs, the A Safe Place Facilitator’s Kit will provide the guide to successfully hosting a fundraising event. Meaningful fundraising events, such as the one highlighted in COMTREA’s Facilitator’s Kit, will bring tears to the audience’s eyes and a new, greater recognition of the sponsor’s importance and value to the community. It will also generate significant funds!

Click on COMTREA STORE for more information….

We just signed a contract with Diane Hall to purchase 40 acres of Bridle Ridge Acres, the Hillsboro Property which has been known by most people as the Hall Farm. On Friday, January 20, 2012 board president Mark Mertens, COMTREA President/CEO Stephen Huss, and Diane Hall met on site to complete the contract. Mrs. Hall noted that, “In addition to the good services that are provided by COMTREA, the home and site will be preserved for future generations.”

“The picturesque setting will remain unchanged for the most part. The house, barns, pond and horse rinks will all stay exactly as they are. This site is an important part of the Hillsboro landscape and should remain so,” Huss said.

“This purchase is the first step in our plan to create an integrated health care center campus for Jefferson County in the county seat,” Mertens added.

Huss noted that COMTREA’s mission involves the provision of a social services safety net for the county. The agency provides a broad array of safety net services including: a domestic violence shelter, forensic sexual abuse evaluation for children, comprehensive community mental health services, psychiatric nursing home care, substance abuse treatment for adults and children, psychiatric medical care, children’s behavioral health evaluation and therapy, family counseling, crisis response, court ordered counseling, parental children safe-exchange oversight, and community education.

Valentine’s Day became very special this year as former First Lady Rosalynn Carter came to COMTREA for a visit. She toured the Anderson Building in Arnold, had a brunch at the Fox Service Center, a legislative briefing at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work, a special luncheon, and participated in a Panel Discussion about mental health at the Graham Chapel where over five hundred people came to hear her. Dr. Huss and Deborah Tumulty accompanied her throughout the day.

Carter autographed copies of her book, “Within Our Reach” which stressed the importance of mental health care in our society. “It is a moral as well as a financial issue,” she told the groups to whom she spoke. She also told the crowd that she “wished COMTREA was in her county.” She thanked the people at the Fox center for supporting COMTREA and being interested in mental health care. “Jefferson County is really extraordinary,” she exclaimed.

Board members Kathy Ellis and Mark Mertens unveiled a gift COMTREA provided for her—a quilt with the COMTREA logo and the Carter Center logos prominently displayed.

Click the Read More... link to view pictures from the events.