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During the Troup County Board of Commissioners work session on Tuesday, the board was introduced to Hank Arnold by Troup Accountability Courts Coordinator Hilliard Daniel.

Arnold is the CEO of Coweta FORCE, a recovery community organization founded in November 2018. The acronym FORCE stands for Friends Of Recovery for Community Empowerment.

The organization provides resources and education needed to help those start or continue on their path of recovery.

A recovering alcoholic himself, Arnold is dedicated to the cause and will soon have 15 years of sobriety.

Arnold said he founded Coweta FORCE to provide recovery and support services to individuals and families impacted by addiction.

“We have been providing services in Coweta County. We actually started as a group of volunteers in 2016, and I was working as a case manager in addiction treatment,” Arnold said. “I felt a big responsibility to provide [services] for individuals and communities that I serve and within. I never knew it would evolve into a nonprofit that has done really well.”

Coweta FORCE is funded partially through the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health Developmental Disabilities, and the other half comes from community donations. Because of that support, Coweta FORCE can provide no-cost recovery resources to the community.

Working with Daniel and Troup County Accountability Courts Manager Jasmine Johnson, Coweta FORCE has started providing recovery support services to the accountability court here in Troup County.

Arnold said they were recently awarded three grants to provide services in Troup and plan to sign a lease to open up on Church Street, the former Republican Party headquarters.

In Troup County, the non-profit is going to go by Friends Of Recovery Troup or FOR Troup.

“I love Troup County. I love LaGrange and all the service providers that are here. We have been welcomed with open arms, and historically, in communities that we serve, we have faced a good bit of discrimination and stigma because we do serve a population that faces discrimination and stigma, but I have not faced that with the leadership service providers here in Troup County. It’s been really, really incredible,” Arnold said.

Arnold said they are looking to hire about six residents to work the center in LaGrange. He said their Coweta staff will start them off, but he wants locals who are invested in Troup County.

For more information on Coweta FORCE and the services they provide, visit cowetaforce.org.