Scott Fitzgerald spoke with Matthew Hoye, the Founder and President of Sobriety Sounds.
-Matthew spoke about the mission of the nonprofit which is to help musicians and others in addiction recovery find their creativity in sobriety and provide them with a safe space for that creative work
-Matthew started the organization after his own battle with addiction and losing friends to overdoses
-He talked about how they have found it hard to get the funding needed to purchase a facility as a permanent place for the nonprofit organization to operate out of.
-Matthew is working on a documentary to demonstrate the struggle that folks dealing with addiction go through and how Sobriety Sounds can be beneficial to their recovery. His goals are to educate people, decrease fatal overdoses and get people interested in Sobriety Sounds.
-He talked about the massive settlement that drug manufacturers agreed to but how that money is being distributed differently in each state. He expressed concern that in New York State the money is being sent out to recovery organizations but they are facing decreased funding from the state budget. Matthew would like to see the settlement money be a bonus in addition to the regular state funding so that recovery organizations could expand their efforts and programs.
-Matthew says the number of people dealing with drug addiction has more than doubled in the last decade so there is more of a need for programs and services.
-Matthew is working on two strategic goals for Sobriety Sounds in conjunction with the documentary. He would like Sobriety Sounds to become a satellite network for other recovery organizations across the area. Renting out their equipment and providing lessons. He would also like Sobriety Sounds to become a Musicians Network. They would act as the mediator for musicians and help them get gigs. Businesses would have peace of mind that the musician is professional and it would provide income for the musician. Sobriety Sound would take a small fee. This would help the organization with revenue.