O.D. Aid is an all-volunteer, community-based overdose prevention and harm reduction nonprofit in Fort Worth, Texas. We have been working with people who use drugs, trade sex, and experience homelessness to redistribute resources they need to protect themselves from HIV and hepatitis C, fatal overdose, and drug-related harms since 2018.

We are managing the first syringe access program in North Texas through mutual aid and community organizing. This work is led by people who use drugs and we reach more than 140 people each week through Standing Hours. During Standing Hours, participants can come pick up safer consumption, safer sex, and first aid supplies as well as food from Fort Worth Food Not Bombs in collaboration at one site. 

Standing Hours are Tuesdays at 5 pm, Wednesdays at 5:30 pm and Fridays at noon. Participants can call or text the hotline (682)730-0715, email odaidfw@gmail.com or message us on Facebook for information about Standing Hours and access to safer consumption supplies.

• Overdose deaths are preventable. Naloxone / Narcan can reverse an otherwise fatal overdose from opioids. O.D. Aid distributes more than 1,500 doses of Narcan per year directly to the community. 
• People who use drugs are the first responders to the overdose crisis. When people who use drugs have access to naloxone, they reverse more overdoses than first responders. Overdose is now the leading cause of death for people in the U.S. under 50 years old and people who use drugs who have access to naloxone reverse more overdoses than first responders. 
• Sterile syringes save lives. Syringe service programs (SSPs) are associated with a ~50% reduction in HIV and hepatitis C incidence and improve public safety by reducing needlestick injuries and fatal overdoses. (CDC)

Every dollar of our funding goes toward sustaining this program and reaching people who use drugs, trade sex, and experience homelessness in our community. We organize this program through mutual aid because we can keep each other safe. 

We need community support to keep this program going. We are responding to the conditions of COVID with more outreach and support than ever and we need to raise $5,000 in 60 days. 

With $5,000, we will: 

• Sustain harm reduction and syringe service programming for 150 regular participants of the program for up to three months.
• Continue to expand the program to reach new participants. At the start of COVID-19 in March of 2020, the program had approximately 40 participants and has grown consistently to reach hundreds of people in Fort Worth. 
• Distribute practical and political educational materials to participants about safer drug use, harm reduction practices, wound care, and surviving homelessness. 
• Train at least 500 people in 3 months on overdose prevention and distribute at least 500 free doses of Narcan to people in the community closest to where drugs are being used. 

Please visit www.odaidfw.org or check us out on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about our work.