COEUR d'ALENE - On Friday at the Union Gospel Mission in Coeur d'Alene, it was all about celebrating the people at the facility who are making positive changes in their lives.

ACES Community Services, a local behavioral health and substance recovery service provider, joined Union Gospel Mission to host a barbecue dinner and activities Friday evening. More than 100 people were served by 15 ACES volunteers during the event.

"They had a phase completion (Union Gospel Missions recovery program has three phases to it) today and we really wanted to help them celebrate that and bring to light their progress," said Josh Mason, ACES business development specialist. "It's really all about focusing on creating a healthy community."

Mason said the purpose of the event was to engage the community and "highlight the ability of individuals from all backgrounds to rise above stigma and affliction."

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From the reactions of those who were served food and smiles, Mason said it was clear they accomplished just that.

"We had a lot of really nice folks here who were very grateful and appreciative of us," Mason said. "They were happy to have us and we were happy to be here."

Mason added that the success of the event has ACES and UGM already looking forward to next year.

"I think it went over amazingly," Mason said. "We had more people than we were even expecting. But we had a lot of food and everyone was taken care of. They (UGM) invited us back so we would absolutely be willing to do more volunteering events with them in the future."