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 Our
friend Jared and the abandon bank they told him, was a halfway house. JaredFew weeks clean and sober, from a home that would surely encourage relapse, and determined to stay clean, he needed somewhere to live when leaving de-tox. No Room in the Inn Like 1500 others on the waiting list during July of 2003, Jared could not get into a halfway house or other residential care facility, the waiting list in the state was just too long.  Better than the streets, or home to a mother who is actively using heroin........ The interview July 2003, Shreveport, LA Burger King after a break from the "Phone Banks" aka Addict Sweat Shop by proprietor who needed dirt cheap labor to sell septic tank products in telemarketing operation.  With
Windows Media Player,
watch the video
here of when Jared left the "sweat shop" to talk to us, and with his
sponsor Patrick who wanted to find some other solution for this young
man, who was fighting for his life, and his fragile recovery.
Knowing it is too dangerous to go back to the old "using" environment,
Jared chose what he believed to be halfway house, only to find out that
an abandon bank building in Benton Louisiana was being used to house the
"cheap" workers being hauled to the "owners" phone bank each day about
40 minutes away. When I went to this facility I took pictures, and
I did have to see it for myself to believe such a place could exist.
An old abandon bank building with for sale sign out front, insulation in
the windows, and a urinal out front. Jared tells the story best.Why
Jared's story matters......Homeless, and a just a few weeks into recovery, the treatment gap, should not force those recovering from addiction to become what amounts to "slave labor" on the premise that they are are being offered a "safe" place to live and recover. Unfortunately it appears people take advantage of others in hard situations, but when someone is making a real effort to recover, from an often fatal, progressive, disease, they should not be "taken advantage of" any more than someone who was indigent and recovering from cancer should, it simply is wrong. To see that this ends, we must make effective, recovery resources available, and that is just what we are doing here and in our recovery focused sister site, www.werecover.org----Please help us see that no other person has to live and work in such conditions---Join us and sign up to get into action. |
