Dayton activist honored for pulling it all together

Even though she has been leading the fight against drug and alcohol abuse for the past 51Ú2 years, Christy McGill feels funny getting an award for her work.

"It's kind of weird getting an individual award when you run a coalition," she said. "We have amazing providers and the providers and schools and sheriff all work together to fight substance abuse. I just get the pleasure of pulling them all together."

Pulling it all together is why the executive director of Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties received the Marilynn Morrical Prevention award from the state Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency.

The award, named for a former head of the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse who died in a 2002 accident, consisted of a plaque, McGill said.

"It was very nice," she said. "It was given at a Nevada Drug and Alcohol Abuse conference."

She said Healthy Communities Coalition doesn't run programs itself but seeks to coordinate programs offered by Lyon County Human Services, Lyon County Youth Connections, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office, Community Chest Inc., the Dayton Task Force and Lyon County schools, to fight drug and alcohol abuse, especially among the young.

The organization also tries to locate grant funding for those programs.

"One of our main priorities is community problem solving," she said.

The latest program is a Dayton Resource Bank, created by the Dayton Task Force, that provides funds for children whose parents are impoverished or addicted.

"Instead of embarrassing them, school counselors can come to the Resource Bank to get funds to help kids join football, or get something they need," she said. "It's completely anonymous and no questions asked."

McGill is also involved in the effort to incorporate Dayton as a city, though she said the slow economy has also slowed the incorporation effort.

"We took a lot of our stats from Fernley, and it has been disrupted because of the flood," she said. "And people are nervous about going too aggressively because of the economy, but the spirit of the group is to be cautious and look at fiscal accountability. Once the economy comes around, we will have everything in place."

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 881-7351.