Love & Respect Recovery is a 501 (c)3 non-profit that has been positively affecting the community since 2002. The changes Love & Respect has influenced or it’s founder/director Dennis Garrett has been featured in articles of prominent news publications covering the triangle from The Herald Sun, The Durham Voice, Spectrum News to Step Up Durham and Indyweek. Primarily geared towards substance abuse, the center provides a recovery program to recovering addicts and alcoholics. Goal setting, budgeting, social, and other needed skills that assist clients in becoming productive members of society are also provided. For troubled youth and older there is crime and drug use counseling starting at the middle school level. Teaching from a real life perspective, Love & Respect shows the negative impact drugs and violence have on individuals and the community. Support of the community through raising community awareness is a big part of what Love & Respect provides. Awareness events educate people about HIV/AIDS, STDs, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and crime prevention. Love & Respect is active in community fairs as well as observing World AIDS Day, and Black History Month. Educational material encouraging discussions on these crucial matters and other social concerns in the Durham area. Contributions, grants and other money is filtered through job services and resident’s living being subsidized back to the community. Under the guidance of the director, the residents have been forging a better Durham by serving the community with love and respect. Remember that “Each link is as important as the next.”