Out of the Dark is a community volunteer movement that started in 2008 after several people in Jonesboro, Arkansas, felt the need to address the horrible impact that chemical addiction was having in their community. Out of the Dark Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was organized by Jonesboro attorney, Charles "Skip" Mooney, Jr. and his family in September of 2008 to address these issues.
The movement began as a community response to special guest editorial, "COMMUNITY SHOULD JOIN TOGETHER IN WAR ON DRUGS" that was published in The Sun on July 18, 2008. Mooney, along with his daughter, Jordan, wrote the article after reading about five (5) young adults being hospitalized for heroin overdoses in Jonesboro. The article was a call for public action to address local drug addiction issues and the public response was overwhelming. Through the inspiration provided by his family and friends, Mooney organized a town hall meeting to publicly discuss the extent of the narcotic addiction problem and his ideas as to what could be done to address the issues as a community. Over 200 people attended the meeting and 86 people volunteered to serve on local committees. The committees were charged with identifying the extent of the problem and the impact it was having in various sectors of the community. After several committee reports that the problems were out of control but solvable, Mooney formed Out of the Dark Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in September of 2008. That since its formation, the directorship of the nonprofit as grown from three (3) to fifteen (15) director positions, that make up a cross section of the community. The slogan of the organization is Out of the Dark and into the Light. "The City of Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, is one of the best family communities in the United States and our industrial community includes plants of major U.S. firms, such as, Nestlé, Butterball, L.L.C., Frito-Lay, Hytrol, Post Cereals, Riceland Foods, International Paper, Thomas & Betts, Great Dane Trailers, Quebecor World and Alberto - Culver. However, like every community we suffer from our share of drug abuse and addiction problems. Therefore, we intend to do what we can to support our families and business leaders through positive educational programs with a support clearinghouse to insure that our homes and businesses stay strong and healthy for those that live in our community. With a more open presence we can attain a better understanding about the illness of chemical addiction in order to address these problems which have caused so much destruction to so many." ~ Skip Mooney, Jr. (2008) Special thanks to The Jonesboro Sun's editor-in-chief, Roy Ockert, for publishing, "COMMUNITY SHOULD JOIN TOGETHER IN WAR ON DRUGS" and helping to get this community movement started. This is someone’s daughter………
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