Make merry for a good cause at Central Arkansas Harm Reduction’s Winter Gala

You’d be hard-pressed to find a local organization that embodies the phrase “meet people where they are” more wholly than Central Arkansas Harm Reduction. Since 2017, they’ve been on the absolute front lines of addressing the opioid epidemic in the Little Rock area, getting life-saving supplies like naloxone into the hands of Arkansans, teaching them how to use it to reverse an overdose and, quite frankly, interacting with people in ways (and zip codes) other treatment organizations would rather avoid. And in a state like ours, where so many drug treatment programs have major strings attached zero-tolerance abstinence, for one, a bar so high it behaves as a barrier to many people who want to get clean having a team of volunteers devoted to meeting drug users where they’re at, no questions asked, is vital and important work. It’s also not all they do. The grassroots organization also helps people sign up for Medicaid. They distribute condoms, fentanyl test strips and one-minute HIV tests. They provide access to sterile syringes, which decrease the spread of HIV and Hepatitis-C. And, for the first time, they’re throwing a winter gala for the good of the cause, a celebration of the impact they’ve had in their near-decade of existence and a memorial to the many Arkansans lost to opioid overdoses. That’s at 6 p. m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at The Hall (721 W. Ninth St.) in Little Rock. If, like me, you’re a person who’s struggling to reconcile the cognitive dissonance of holiday merry-making with the real-time dystopia of America circa 2025, the Central Arkansas Harm Reduction Winter Gala is a perfect way to go out on the town and simultaneously give a damn. Your $35 ticket supports the mission and gets you into a cute venue where there will be music, art, raffles, auctions, a memorial display, overdose response training and more. Note: While Central Arkansas Harm Reduction can happily accept your cash donations, The Hall is a cashless venue, so bring your card along.
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2025/11/20/make-merry-for-a-good-cause-at-central-arkansas-harm-reductions-winter-gala