Creative Restorations, Inc.

08/07/2025

08/04/2025

When City of Buffalo Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon publicly recognizes your work—it means something.

It means the fentanyl crisis devastating our streets is being seen.
It means the basic needs crisis—hunger, hygiene, housing—is being acknowledged.
It means that the work we do every single day matters.

Creative Restorations Inc. is proud to be featured by WKBW for our partnership with the Buffalo Police Foot Patrol Integration Unit. Together, we’re walking block by block, hand-in-hand with the community, bringing Narcan, test strips, food, clothing, and connection to where it’s needed most.

We are not “just” a nonprofit. We are lived experience. We are street outreach. We are crisis response.
And most importantly—we are neighbors.

This city, OUR city, is hurting. But it’s also healing.

From the front porches to the foot patrols, we are building trust, preventing overdoses, and meeting people exactly where they are—without judgment.

To be seen and acknowledged by Mayor Scanlon—is fuel for the work. But our real reward is seeing someone take a step toward recovery, toward hope, toward tomorrow.

We are Creative Restorations Inc.
And we’re proud to serve the 716.

A local nonprofit organization, Creative Restorations Inc., is collaborating with the Buffalo Police Department to address the ongoing opioid crisis in the community.

08/02/2025

08/01/2025

🚨 Overdoses Are Stealing Lives in Our Neighborhoods 🚨
And we’re not sitting back.

Creative Restorations INC is proud to be featured by WKBW 7 News for our boots-on-the-ground harm reduction work—now in partnership with Buffalo Police—to fight the opioid crisis head-on.

▶️ Watch the story here:
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/buffalo-nonprofit-partners-with-buffalo-police-to-combat-opioid-overdoses

In just the past year, we’ve:
✅ Distributed over 5,000 (closing in in 6k)doses of Narcan
✅ Provided over 7,000 (closing in on 8.5k)fentanyl/xylazine test strips
✅ Helped nearly 100 people enter treatment
✅ Served over 1,000 families with food, clothing, and hygiene, in 2024 alone.
✅ Created and offer safe, non-medical transportation and reentry support for those coming home from incarceration or rehabilitation

This is community-led recovery. This is what action looks like.

💙 If you believe in a better Buffalo, support the work.
Volunteer. Donate. Partner with us.

07/30/2025

In Response to “Buffalo Neighborhoods Voice Concerns Over Rising Drug Activity”

As an organization embedded in Buffalo’s most impacted neighborhoods, Creative Restorations INC (CR INC) agrees: the status quo is not working. But let’s be clear—real solutions do not happen behind desks or in board meetings. They happen in the streets, face to face, through consistent and compassionate outreach that addresses more than just the overdose.

CR INC is out there every day—not just handing out Narcan, but delivering an integrated care model that walks with people from crisis to stability. Our team, made up entirely of individuals in long-term recovery, provides:
• Non-medical transportation to treatment, housing, or vital appointments
• Immediate access to food, hygiene, and clothing resources
• On-demand referrals to inpatient and outpatient treatment
• Recovery coaching and case management
• Post-overdose engagement that includes housing navigation, employment assistance, and peer mentorship
• Test strips, Narcan, and overdose prevention education

We’ve reversed overdoses, walked people into detox, and reunited families—not through policy, but through presence.

What’s disheartening is that funding repeatedly go to larger, more politically connected agencies, even though grassroots groups like CR INC are doing the heavy lifting. We aren’t just reacting—we’re building a full continuum of care.

Councilmember Nowakowski is right: Narcan saves a life, but without a plan beyond the reversal, we lose people. CR INC already has that plan—we’ve been doing it every day.

We invite city leaders to step outside the offices and walk with us. Let’s build real, community-rooted change—together.

—
Christopher Harzynski
President & Founder, Creative Restorations INC
www.creativerestorationsinc.org

07/26/2025

“Recovery thrives when it hits a wise soul.

Gossip, shame, and stigma? That’s the old language. Today, we speak truth, accountability, and growth.

Rumors might have followed us in active addiction, but in recovery, we choose to walk with integrity—not for them, but for us.
Let them talk. You live free.”

07/21/2025

🚨 COMMUNITY CALL TO ACTION 🚨

Did you know that Jefferson Ave—an area many of us drive through daily—is considered a food desert? With just ONE grocery store in the entire neighborhood, far too many of our neighbors struggle to access fresh, nutritious food.

That’s why Creative Restorations INC is stepping up.

We’re proud to announce a new collaboration with Frederick Douglass Towers, where we’ll be providing fresh produce and basic needs to residents and the surrounding community every other Saturday from 10AM–2PM.

But we can’t do it alone.

💥 If you care about food justice, equity, or just want to give back in a meaningful way—we need you. Whether it’s donating, volunteering, or helping spread the word, there’s a place for everyone in this movement.

📍Location: Frederick Douglass Towers
🗓️ When: Every other Saturday (**this Saturday**) 10AM–2PM**until supplies last**

📞 Get involved: Call us at 716-262-0126

Let’s do our part for the residents of our community residing in the Jefferson Ave area—together. 💚