The following is a report from the St. Cloud Times.
The St. Cloud PleasureLand RV team unveiled a new trailer to address drug use for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department Monday. The trailer is part of a collaboration between the company and law enforcement.
The 22-foot-long, $25,000 trailer was primarily funded as a donation from PleasureLand and will be used by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department in their new program to educate families about teen drug use. The department plans to transport it to different locations around town, including schools and community events.
The metal trailer is currently empty outside of some built-in cabinets, but the department will soon turn it into a reconstruction of a teen’s bedroom, including items commonly used to hide drugs in, such as fake water bottles, makeup items and watches. Parents will be able to walk through the trailer and learn about the methods children may use to hide their drug use.
The collaboration between the RV company and law enforcement originated about two years ago when PleasureLand’s former owner, Dan Pearson, reached out to Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka about working together on an educational tool to prevent drug use and overdoses.
“It’s on a wish list for us, for government. This isn’t something that we’d probably go out and be able to fund ourselves without their donation,” he said.
Whitney Pearson-Curtis, who has remained involved in PleasureLand’s operations after her father’s passing last year, said her father’s idea for the project came from a personal connection to the topic.
Pearson-Curtis lost her brother, Justin, in 2006 due to an accidental opioid overdose. Shortly after, her family created their Justin Pearson Foundation, which contributed to the trailer’s funding, to financially assist children and young adults in addiction recovery, as well as funding scholarships for those facing addiction.
“My brother and I knew that this was something that would be important to Dad, and it was something we really, really wanted to do and to continue it on, not just for our dad’s legacy, but our brother’s foundation,” she said.
The partnership also aligns closely with PleasureLand’s mission, Pearson-Curtis said, as the company looks for ways to continue giving back to the surrounding community.
Read the full story by Teagan King at the St. Cloud Times here.
