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Butler nonprofit receives national recognition

In this 2016 file photo, Candle Inc. Board of Directors member Tara Maziarz (left), Julie Wilczynski and Colton Bittner perform a reenactment of a fatal drug overdose. The event is an anti-drug program that shows that drugs are a gamble, and the stakes have always been far too high to make the bet an acceptable one

A Butler nonprofit organization received national recognition with the 2017 Top-Rated Nonprofit Award recently.

Community Action Network for Drug-free Lifestyle Empowerment Inc. (CANDLE Inc.), was honored with the award for the 5th year in a row by GreatNonprofits, the leading provider of nonprofit user reviews, according to a press release from the agency.

Established in 2004, CANDLE's mission is to close the gap in prevention services by reaching out to families in the general public to educate parent and child together to understand that now unprecedented access to drugs and a drug abuse epidemic exists and affects all.

Accomplishments for the group include the development of Butler County's third Reality Tour site located at Hope Church in Cranberry Township, and has attracted support from the Arconic Foundation and the B.D. Phillips Jr. and Lauretta G. Phillips Philanthropic Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, as well as the Logan Family Trust and the J. Robert & Alberta C. Rodgers Memorial Charitable Trust contributions to the organization's community-based parent/child prevention outreach for Butler County in 2017

The Top-Rated Nonprofit award was based on positive reviews written by volunteers, donors and participants in the parent/child Reality Tour Drug Prevention Program as well as the transparency of the organization, the release states.

In Butler County more than 12,000 parents/youth have attended Reality Tour presented by volunteers.

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