Tuesday, the Project Exile Advisory Board celebrated its 20th anniversary of the Project Exile program.
The program was being implemented in the Greater Rochester community. The chairman of the program, Gary Mervis, addressed why the project means so much to the community.
“Thank god our homicide rate has never gone back to where it was at that time and we removed. Like I said, thousands of guns out of the hands of people who have lost their right to posses a firearm,” he explained.
In addition to the luncheon, Mervis was presented with an award for outstanding individual contribution to the Project Safe Neighborhood Program.
![In this photo released by The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, shows officials burning seized drugs in Niamey, Niger, Monday, June 26, 2023. Drug seizures soared in the West African Sahel region according to figures released Friday April 19, 2024 in a new U.N. report, indicating the conflict-ridden region is becoming an influential route for drug trafficking. In 2022, 1,466 kilograms, [3,232 pounds], of cocaine were seized in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger compared to an average of 13 kilograms [28.7 pounds] between 2013 and 2020 , said the report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. (UNODC via AP)](https://www.rochesterfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2024/04/66227f218df888.95308299.jpeg?strip=1)
