Hello Friends and Family,
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! I hope you all are having a fabulous year. I can’t help but to be overwhelmed with gratitude for the miracles that have happened since Acceptance Recovery Center was just a dream. As I sit here and reminisce over the events and progress that have been made here in Athens through the support of the community, I couldn’t help but want to share my thoughts. Without you and the hard work and dedication of the recovering men here at ARC, none of this would be possible.
ARC opened in January of 2016 with 14 bed spaces. By January 14th we had accepted 14 men into the program. We continually expanded over the next 23 months, and now we have 60 bed spaces! We have officially completed the final phase requirements and have had 4 graduation ceremonies with 12 graduates. We also have 4 residents currently in aftercare. When we envision a “successful” graduate of the program, we see the following: completed the treatment curriculum, employed and has maintained full-time employment, completed GED, completed requirements to have his driver’s license reinstated, has a sponsor and is actively working the steps with that sponsor, has a home group, has a checking account and financial management skills, has written a life timeline, shared his life story and has completed the community Give Back project. All of that said, this is just a small snapshot of the work being carried out by the dedicated men participating in this program.
Did I mention we also have a FANTASTIC #teamARC? We have over 14 hardworking, reliable, passionate and outgoing staff, volunteers, and interns, plus our board of directors.
We currently have two UGA Master of Social Work interns working with us as well as 5 regular volunteers. Carrie has been here since day one. Thank you for always supporting me and teaching me with such patience. Kristina, Laarni, Molly, Jonathan, Rick, and Maryanne have become the pillars that hold htis program together. We have also been blessed to have welcomed Renee, Jay, and Timmy to the team this year. Day in and day out, they are on the front lines battling the devastating burden of the disease of addiction. This is a tough field to work in; we have many heartaches and challenges. And yet, after each one we rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Each team member has given their full support and dedication to the program and to the ARC mission as I returned to school to begin working toward a graduate degree in Human Services this year.
Finally, we realize that we would not still be in operation without the relentless support of the community. We have already been awarded our first grant, have two recurring monthly donors, and a tremendous outpouring of in-kind donations. We have been blown away by the success of our fundraising efforts and without our donors, our door would not be open to welcome those seeking recovery inside from the cold. Thanks to our former volunteer and Communications Coordinator, Mary, we now have a three tier fundraising agenda to utilize for our annual Awareness Benefit.
As a part of the fundraising agenda, we will continue the movement, “Freedom from active addiction freedom from the stigma.” Yes, we have facilitated change in many lives seeking freedom from compulsive and obsessive use of alcohol and drugs. But what about those to come? What about those that do not know what addiction is prior to their first use? What about those that are in the grips of despair and do not know that there is relief? What about those that do not know that recovery is possible? This mission is so close to my heart because I didn’t know. I didn’t know that there was hope and recovery. I thought I was destined to live my life as a ward of the state or an addict on the streets. But today, I know different. The infamous quote from Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” is the founding principal in which I choose to live my life by today. I aspire to show others that they too can live a life worth living and begin to allow others to love them as they learn to develop self-love.
We are actively planning the opening of a women’s program as we seek to secure the perfect home. Thanks to giving hearts like yours, we have the money set aside soley for this purpose. We also plan to continue to add on and expand our current services with an alumni “Giveback” program. As always, we plan to keep our staff equipped with interdisciplinary training to ethically meet the needs of the clients. With several event in the works, we have quite a few opportunities for you to join in our movement throughout the year. Stay tuned as you don’t want to miss out on the social change happening here at Acceptance Recovery Center. Thank you for believing in the mission. Thank you for helping this mission become a reality. And most of all, thank you for believing in recovery.
Respectfully,
Brandy Witte Anderson, BA, NCACI, CAC II
Founder/Executive Director
Soon after our residents get here, before they can advance from Stabilization to Phase One, they write a Goodbye Letter to their addiction. Each month we will share one of those letters with you.
Dear Addiction,
I assume you didn’t see this coming, but honestly, you’ve done the same sh*% to me for many years. So on that note, I’ve finally come to grasp reality and realized I’ve been mistaken for a long time, believing that you were the solution to all my problems. Now its time to say goodbye. And no, there’s not gonna be any, “once more for old time sake.” Its officially over now.
For many years I’ve tried and tried to just meet you in the middle, but no, you’re so selfish and inconsiderate you couldn’t seem to do that. You always want what’s yours and all of mine. You do nothing but lie to me, steal from me, and change me. I’ve allowed you to do this, that’s the bad thing about it. I’ve allowed you to take from me my family, friends, my freedom, my money, and my sanity. What you spent the last 17 years of my life destroying, I now have to spend the rest of my life fixing… fixing what you broke, getting back what I’ve lost, and keeping it. So with that, I now say goodbye forever. There’s no room for you to come back because you have been replaced. I now have a relationship with a Higher Power and he and I have a lot of work to do fixing what you destroyed.
P.S. I’m also gonna let everyone else know the truth about you!
The resident that wrote the Goodbye Letter above makes an important point when he writes, “There’s no room for you to come back because you have been replaced. I now have a relationship with a Higher Power…”
The all-consuming nature of addiction means it not only consumes the tangibles in an addict’s life, but also the intangibles: hope, motivation, pleasure, spiritual seeking. Fortunately, replacing the intangibles leads to restoration of many of of the tangibles lost. Active addiction creeps into all the cracks and crevices of our lives, of our souls, and pushes out hope and motivation, it disguises itself as pleasure and sometimes even convinces us that the hold it has on us is a spiritual one.
The fact that the writer of the Goodbye letter above already recognizes that “replacing his addiction” in order to leave no room for it to creep its way back in is a significant milestone in his recovery journey. Filling our lives, seeking our Higher Power, finding hope, sparking motivation, allowing our brains to heal so that we once again feel pleasure naturally, these are the missing intangibles that, in recovery, we rediscover. These are the connections that fill the space once occupied by our addiction. These are what fill us up and keep active addiction at bay.
Athens MLK Day of Service is an annual celebration in support of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and commitment to service.
In 1994, Congress made the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday an official day of service. Athens, Georgia is one of the thousands of cities across the United States that decided to make this “A Day On and Not a Day Off.”
Join us to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy at the 2018 Athens Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, January 15th, 2018 for another beatification project. We are currently in need of pine straw, much, wood chips and a tiller. If you would like to join us, please register at: https://uga.givepulse.com/group/events/118913
*Event Schedule*
Kickoff celebration: 8:30AM – 9:30 AM at the Clarke Central High School Gym (350 S. Milledge Avenue).
Volunteer shifts: 10:00AM – 1:00PM at your selected site.
All participants are encouraged to carpool from the kickoff to their selected site.
All volunteers are encouraged to bring a canned food item to the kickoff event. Donations will benefit Campus Kitchen at UGA.
*Registration Notes*
All minors (under 18) should be registered by their parent/guardian.
We are not able to accommodate large group registrations. If you have a group that would like to volunteer at the same site, each individual must separately register through GivePulse at https://uga.givepulse.com/group/events/118913
