The Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons on Saturday donated $100,000 to the Southampton Town Police Department to benefit the town’s Opioid Addiction and Recovery Committee.

The 16-member panel was created last month—after the disbanding of the Southampton Town Opioid Addiction Task Force—to implement a series of recommendations by the task force to address the opioid crisis on the East End.

The task force was formed in October 2017 by Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and former News 12 anchorman Drew Scott, whose granddaughter, Hallie Ulrich, died of a heroin overdose last September.

Father Alexander Karloutsos said this week that the church was inspired to contribute to the cause this time last year and awarded the funds to Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki at the church’s Blue Dream Gala this past weekend. He said that the St. Andrews Road church is interested in supporting institutions that affect the community.

“It’s very simple—we are a part of a greater community. We’re all connected with each other,” said Fr. Karloutsos, whose son-in-law and co-pastor, Father Constantine Lazarakis, was a member of the task force. “We kept seeing that there was an opioid crisis, and if all of us don’t chip in to address this problem, it’s just going to continue to grow.”

Last year, in Southampton Town alone, there were 19 deaths from opioid addiction, according to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. That same year, Suffolk County recorded roughly 400 opioid deaths.

In June, the task force unveiled several recommendations to combat the rising death toll that focused on strengthening education about addiction across the board for people in the community—including children, parents, educators and medical professionals.

According to Southampton Town Police Lieutenant Susan Ralph, the donated funds will “help fund programs and a broad spectrum of other initiatives.” In addition, the funds will be used to purchase equipment and will allow the police department to provide additional training to its officers. She could not offer any additional details.

Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki did not return phone calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

At a recent Town Board meeting, the task force recommended that the town develop a public awareness campaign titled “Look in the Mirror” that would teach parents about talking to their children about the dangers of opioid addiction.

Additionally, in a previous interview, Mr. Scott suggested that the town establish a community outreach center, similar to THRIVE, a Hauppauge-based nonprofit that promotes itself as “a center for transformation, healing, recovery, inspiration, validation and empowerment,” where individuals in recovery could receive support.

“We have a responsibility as members of the community to support these institutions that protect our communities,” Fr. Karloutsos said. “We wanted to make sure that they had the resources necessary.”