(thoughtful music)
Downloaded from YTS.MX
- [Lucy] I can remember, around the age of six years old,
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
being outside in the front, playing in the yard
and all of a sudden an ambulance showed up.
And they went and out comes my mother on a stretcher.
And my sister was with her and another aunt was with her
and they all got in the ambulance
and they drove away with my mom.
Mommy was ill and needed to go see the doctor
is what I was told.
(suspenseful music)
We're in the bedroom and then comes Marsha,
screaming, crying, "Mommy's gone, Mommy's gone."
I had two or three sisters who were still there,
Yvonne and Eloise and they start, "What do you mean?"
Screaming back and there's all of this commotion,
all of a sudden in the house.
There's just all this noise and I was a timid kid,
I used to cry when the ambulance came,
I used to cry when the firetrucks came.
You know, there was always a fire truck
or an ambulance coming because of Mommy.
And so that night, Marsha said she was gone.
And little did I know that meant Mommy was gone,
she was dead, she was gone and was never coming back again.
(heartfelt music)
Later I came to realize
that my mom had drink herself to death from alcoholism.
She couldn't stop, every single day of her life,
my mom drank.
And I aint realize that until I realized later on,
my family was disappearing from this deadly disease,
known as addiction.
There's my brother Larry,
the day before his graduation from high school,
he died from a heroin overdose.
Then my brother Stevie, who was my oldest brother,
I can remember the day they said,
they found him in the bathroom with a needle in his arm.
He had overdosed.
And then my mom's sister, my Aunt Nezzie,
she also died from alcoholism.
And my grandmother.
Addiction was in my blood.
I had inherited that.
But God had another plan for my life.
(upbeat music)
- [Lucy] Here's where you want me?
- [Interviewer] You comfortable?
- I am. - All right.
- What would you like for me to say to you today.
It's good to see you again, my brother.
All right.
(laughing)
- So, Lucy, how did this all start,
this whole documentary process?
(heartfelt music)
- I met you and you said,
"I wanna write a Mary Hall story."
And you begin to tell me about why,
because of your own journey with your dad.
And not knowing about how to get him help.
And not knowing that there are many families
and people out there who don't know,
that help is available.
And you said, "That's what I wanna do
"with my own company.
"I wanna tell the story to the world."
So here you came with how you wanted to do it.
And I was like, "Okay.
"You know, if you wanna do this, I wanna do it with you."
Because that's always being my desire,
is that people know that help is available.
- [Narrator] In the U.S. over 20 million people,
seek treatment for substance abuse each year.
Less than 10% actually receive the help they need.
But there's hope.
(dramatic music)
Growing up, I saw my father drink daily
and eventually loose his job, his home
and his freedom to addiction.
At first I was angry and just wanted to fix things quickly.
But I didn't know what, if anything, I could do about it,
until I met Lucy.
Her epic journey from dope to hope
has become a beacon of light for generations of women
at Mary Hall Freedom House.
And has shifted my views on addiction completely.
I went from having contempt for recovering addicts
to admiration for their strength and courage.
Lucy has given our cameras full assess to their program,
from now until graduation, so we may all have a look
at the strength and courage and recovery.
- This is like a lot of sister's bottom.
We take women, that a lot of other people wouldn't take.
So, there's two different things that happen,
there's your treatment and then there's your housing.
We have selected probably about seven ladies
simply 'cause like I said, I'm not quite sure,
who will get across the finish line.
And I know you wanted to follow like four of them,
but I say, well let's give you almost double that.
'Cause you know, I always say, if I give you seven,
two of them may not make it.
- [Narrator] Before we meet the women she has in treatment,
I ask Lucy to share how she discovered recovery for herself.
(suspenseful music)
So my cousin introduced me to marijuana.
And I started hanging with this guy in Manhattan,
who I thought was the love of my life.
And this guy introduced me to crack.
And I can remember that's all I was living for,
day in and day out.
Everyday, I got up to use and I used to live,
by any means necessary.
Stealing, lying, cheating, selling me,
selling you, selling whatever had to happen
to get high that day.
(thought-provoking music)
At this point I was boosting, shoplifting
to support my habit.
And I remember the day they said,
"You have the right to remain silent."
'Cause they caught me.
And I remember crying so bad,
while the police officer was putting handcuffs on me.
He said, "Girl, get in the car."
And then I found out I was pregnant.
I knew that the cycle was gonna begin again.
My biggest fear, not was I was gonna die like they did,
but now was gonna die
and not let her have a mother like I did.
(upbeat music)
I went to court and they put me on probation.
When I went to that probation officer,
and she said to me, "I need for you to go pee in a cup."
And I asked her why?
And she said, "'Cause I need to see if you do drugs."
And I said, "Well, I do."
And she said, "What did you say?"
I said, "I do."
I didn't even know at that point,
I was supposed to lie to her.
And so she said, "Well, what you wanna do about it?"
I said, "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?"
'Cause I always thought the end result was death.
And so, she said, "Well,
"I'm gonna send you to a treatment program."
And I said, "Well, what is that?"
And so, she started making phone calls
and I'm sitting there in her office listening to her,
trying to get me into a treatment program.
And I remember it was a Friday, it was Friday evening
an afternoon and I'm sitting in her office
and she's making these phone calls and she hangs up
and she says, "Well, do you wanna go to treatment?"
And I said, "Well, yeah but I can't go today."
You know, 'cause my thing was, it's Friday,
aint nobody gonna go to treatment on a Friday,
I'm gonna leave here, I'm going across the street.
Macy's, I saw Macy's coming in the door and I said,
"Well, I gotta make arrangements for my daughter."
And da-di-da-di-da, I gave up a bunch of excuses.
And so she said, "Okay,
"well I got you a bed for Monday."
So I said, "Okay."
I remember leaving that probation officers office
and going right across the street to Macy's
with my daughter and stealing.
And then going straight downtown and buying dope.
(thought-provoking music)
That Monday came, my sister took me up to White Plains,
New York to detox.
And I remember telling my Councilor, Mark,
my biggest fear was I was gonna die like my mother died
and never see Mary grow up.
And he said, "Guess what Lucy?
"You gonna die one day, but you don't have
"to die like they did."
That was when he sold me the hope.
I knew then, that I could do this,
one day at a time.
And if you can catch that glimmer of hope,
before you know it, it becomes what you live for,
what you look for.
Everyday I began to look for, where's the hope of this day.
What can I do, I can't go back, I can't go back.
Because somebody had opened the door and let me out.
That's where my journey began.
And that same hope, is what I wanna give
to women everyday at Mary Hall Freedom House,
hope became the product that we sell.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] This condo in Sandy Springs, Georgia
is one of many community housing apartments provided
for the woman in treatment.
- [Lucy] Actually, we bought 33 units
and we were gifted three,
so we have 36 units out of this 90.
And God is gonna bless up to own all 90 of them.
- [Narrator] Beyond the housing,
Mary Hall Freedom House provides,
Lucy gives me a full tour of her Work NOW Program,
where the women regain their hope,
in the form of job training.
And the daycare,
where they nurture the future hopes of the children.
Giving these families an opportunity
to stop generational cycles of drug abuse.
An opportunity Lucy's mother never had.
- My mom's name was Mary and then it was my daughter Mary.
My reason for getting clean and sober.
So Mary Hall Freedom House, is the door
that's open for every woman to break the cycle of addiction,
homelessness and poverty.
So every day of my life, I see the two Mary's,
my mother and my daughter, who are my story.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] This is Lucy's village.
A place where curses are broken
and for many other women she serves, it's their last hope.
- My name is Amanda Smith.
I have eight months clean.
First time ever since I started using it, like 15.
In my mind, I'm thinking, I'm gonna come to this like,
homeless shelter and it's just gonna be terrible.
Like I did not know what to expect.
(suspenseful music)
And so we pull into the parking lot
and I hadn't being outside, like in sunshine,
in months.
Really, and so, I'm in my own clothes now
and I've gotten some of my belongings back
and they let me out and I'm walking in
and I remember coming up to the front desk
and I was still in shackles.
And Miss. Moraine was like, "Can you take those off,
"like we don't do that here."
And I was like, "Yes, take them off."
We did my intake interview, she's asking me,
you know, are you and IV drug user, are you homeless?
And I was just like, "But I have money,
like, I don't need to do this."
And so it wasn't like I was adverse to it,
it kind of like became my only option.
(upbeat music)
- When women arrive at Mary Hope Freedom House,
we do a full assessment,
just like when you're at your doctors office.
We assess their mental health, their physical health,
what drugs they've being using.
And then they sit down with their Councilor
and then map out their road for recovery.
Sometimes when we look at people,
we make judgment calls from our human side.
Then you hear their story
and they will open your heart to reality.
It could be me.
(suspenseful music)
- I've always done really well in school,
it's something that I really get a lot out of.
I finished my education at Appalachian, where I got my,
I finished with International Business in Spanish,
studied abroad in Seville.
While I was there, that's when I moved down to Atlanta,
I'd gotten a job in logistics.
And I got down here, things kind of just took a turn
for the worst almost immediately.
(suspenseful music)
I was able to maintain the life of addictions
and then this other side, who was successful,
college student, grad student, you know, employee.
The night before we moved to Atlanta,
we're from North Carolina,
we spent each, about five or $600 on pain pills.
And we get down to Atlanta
and I remember all the pills were out,
within 24 hours, they were gone.
And I had to start a new job in three days,
so I was just like, what am I gonna do,
I'm like, incredibly dope-sick, I can't function.
And so, I ended up Googling open-air heroin markets,
in Atlanta Georgia, I met like two drug dealers
within like five seconds.
And so, that's how the heroin really started
and I'd started using IV at that point.
So, the difference between the program I'm in now
and the six ones I've being to prior, are huge.
This is the first one I've being to,
where you don't have to pay anything to get in.
Whereas, the previous treatment centers I've being in,
have being much more short-term, insurance paid for those.
I mean, I know they range upward, it's like 15,000 and up,
you know, to go to them.
Most of them were 30 days.
I've stayed 30 days at maybe two.
And the truth is, 30 days,
just isn't long enough to do anything.
- My name is Shyanna Holm, I'm 28 years old
and how I found out about Mary Hall Freedom House was,
I was incarcerated.
(suspenseful music)
New Years Eve, you know you wanna turn up a little bit,
take a couple of shots,
a couple will turn into the whole bottle, for me.
I don't know my limit, I have to say that no I don't.
So, man, I was more so drinking out of anger as well.
I'm just that person, I drink my feelings.
Me and my mother got into a physical altercation.
And then I found out I was pregnant, the day I went to jail.
And I was there for about eight months
and my bunkie kept talking about Mary Hall, Mary Hall
and she was like, the program's,
gonna help me get my life together.
Like and they care for pregnant girls.
So, I called.
This is my daughter, SAYURI.
She's seven, she'll be seven on Sunday.
And this is SIREER and he'll be five months on her birthday.
(sneezing)
Bless you.
My first 30 days were overwhelming,
I mean it was overwhelming 'cause it's a new environment.
I had both my kids here with me,
so I had to learn the routine.
(upbeat music)
Morning.
Hey, Britney.
So she's off to the bus at seven.
One down, one to go.
Hey (laughs), just found Jessica.
Now that he's in daycare, I do so living more independent.
All right, we are good to go.
My goal is to graduate in June.
You know, be an example for my children,
for my sisters, who still use, you know.
For my mother.
I don't know if she's with me or against me right now
but I wanna show her that, I'm sincere about this.
This is what I wanna do and I've got the right help.
And now I'm able to take these skills with me,
wherever I go.
(upbeat music)
- Hi. - Hi.
- When you hit bottom, most of us say, "God help me."
And you start negotiating with God on that hit you took,
or that high you were on,
or that right to remain silent opportunity you had.
You say, "God, if you get me outta this, I'll do, what?"
- Anything. - Anything.
Most of us said that to God.
But anyway, once you got up and you got on your do-nothing,
you decided, okay God, I'll take my will back.
So every Monday meeting, I do what I call community meeting,
every Monday morning 'cause I always want the women to know,
I'm a part of this with you.
How many of us can say, "I've tried recovery,
"almost 10 times, if not 10 times or more?"
Yeah, there's a few of us, this aint your first rodeo.
- Right. - Right.
For most of us, we've being around this before.
But what's different this time lies before you?
And so, I challenge you, 'cause some of us have this thing
that's like, huh-um, can't do the God thing.
Then what else you gonna do?
What else you gonna do?
Just tell me what are the other things that you can do,
if it's not truly stepping into a relationship with God.
The one true living One, who created you
and just gave you life, just gave it to you,
it didn't cost you nothing.
So what are you gonna do differently?
Where's your hope gonna be, in terms of a future?
You know, where's your help coming from?
'Cause if you're just buying time,
right, just to keep outta the jail,
because the judge said, "I'm gonna give you a break
"and let you go over to this place called Mary Hall,
"in exchange for you doing the right thing."
Or, you said, "I'm coming,
"because I don't want DFCS to take my kids."
Or, because their relationship ended, and I want it back.
What on earth are you here for?
(thought-provoking music)
I think it was, when I was in the halfway house
that I realized that it was about living this way.
It wasn't about a 28 day program,
it wasn't about the detox program,
it wasn't about, you know, going up to Saranac Lake
for treatment for seven weeks,
it was about one day at a time for the rest of my life.
(suspenseful music)
And, I went to this halfway house and it was like,
probably like 10 woman living in a little old house.
And it was like being in a college dorm.
And we learning life on life turning at that point.
And we were learning how to do this thing a day at a time.
Go get a job, go to meetings.
Come home and have dinner, go to bed.
Living normal.
But even in the halfway house, my behavior,
I remember that booster, I remember going to the mall
and stealing something, even in recovery.
'Cause I had not learned, I wasn't well yet.
I still had the behaviors of my addiction.
But this time when I went
and stole something from the store,
it felt strange, it felt like,
that aint who you are no more.
That's not what you suppose to be doing.
So I remember calling up the sponsor I had
and I told her, I just stole something from the store
and I feel awful about it.
And she said, "Well, if you really feel bad, take it back."
I was like, "What?"
She said, "Take it back."
I was like, "Take it back?"
She's like, "Lucy, that's not who you are anymore.
"Go take it back."
(anxious music)
I was like, "Wow."
And I couldn't tell nobody in the halfway house
and I remember saying to Dorothy,
a girl who was in the halfway house with me,
"I need for you to go with me to the mall."
(excited music)
So we go back to the mall and go back to the store
and have a bag and I walk in the store
and woman says, "Can I help you?"
I said, "Yeah, I have a return."
And I put it on the counter.
And I said, "Well, I'm just gonna walk around
"and see what else I want to exchange it for."
She said, "Oh, take your time, go ahead."
(mischievous music)
So I'm walking around the store, walking around the store,
the salesgirl starts working.
And I said to Dorothy, "Come on, let's go."
Dorothy said, "Well, Lucy you're leaving your bag."
I said, "Shut up, come on, let's go."
(excited music)
And we hurried up and got out that store.
She's like, "Well, why you do that?"
I said, "Just shut up, let's go, let's go."
And I remember saying,
"I aint ever gonna steal nothing else,
"'cause that was harder than stealing it.
"Returning it back, I aint doing that no more."
That became my first honest moment.
And that's the first step of recovery, of being honest.
(upbeat music)
All right, ladies, we gonna get started.
Hey, how's everybody this evening?
(cheering)
So we're gonna do a couple of things this evening.
One is, you're gonna write, what I call your freedom paper.
Your freedom paper, is that message
that you want to give to your daughter.
That tells her, why you're thankful that you're free.
Or your freedom paper may be to somebody
that you know that's starting to do what you did.
You all know who you wanna write a freedom paper to.
I might be that two year old kid
that you told me about in that car.
That he would never experience a mother who's getting high.
So if you complete it, you know,
you've got nine months in recovery,
you've got a job at X, Y and Z,
you're enrolled in school, you've got your kid back,
whatever it is.
'Cause if you think about what you were really like
that first Monday we met,
you've accomplished quite a bit.
You're always gonna have this to remind you,
who the sun sets free, is free indeed.
(thought-provoking music)
- My name is Latacha, I'm 42 years old.
I have 85 days clean today.
Back in '85, I found out I was HIV positive.
Most of my problems, doing drugs
because I didn't wanna deal with this sickness
of myself having HIV.
So, I was on a binge with cocaine,
I got tired of doing cocaine and I started smoking crack.
And I wound up going to jail for like two months.
That was in 2006.
And I stayed clean for 10 years.
And then I had lost my brother and a few days later,
I was out there smoking crack again.
(sorrowful music)
I cry all the time, because I wishing he was here
and I question God.
Like, I don't know if it's okay to question.
Like, why did you take him away from me,
he was all that I had.
And I was just using drugs to mask my feeling.
- I'm Patricia, I am 39 years old
and right now, I have 64 days clean.
Pretty much directly out of high school I went to the Navy.
I stayed in for six years.
I worked on the flight deck, fueling jets.
It was awesome, it was the most awesome job ever.
I was 19 when I went in, turn 20 in Japan
and the drinking age in Japan is 20.
I was here, back in 2011, and I should've stayed
but I allowed myself to be drawn off a little bit
and since then, it's just being really rough.
You know, I have three beautiful girls
and they're older now, getting ready to graduate school,
they're all doing great things
and I've lost that relationship over the years.
So, and they're the best things that ever happened to me.
So, I wanted that relationship back
and to be able to be with them again,
I have to be strong.
- Hi, I'm Melissa.
I have 109 days clean.
I'm 37 years old.
I came to Mary Hall in 2010.
Because after I left here, I stopped going to church,
I stopped going to meetings.
You know, I'm a good person, I'm gonna do this
and I don't need anything else anymore.
A lot of bad, unfortunate events happened,
I had a condo, car, all that stuff
and I had lost my job, managing Subway.
(suspenseful music)
My friend Casey, that's also here,
we were on the street together,
the drug use just became more and more frequent.
I couldn't do anything without it.
And you know, we were tired of bouncing around,
I've known for a while I've needed to come back.
And then just one day, Casey and I, well like,
dude, we you know, we gotta do.
It was a process to get here.
So we walked across Cobb County.
And went to the BHCC, the Behavior Health Crisis Center
for a Cobb in Douglasville. And they were like, "Oh well,
"you just need to come on another shift."
I was like, "I don't know if I'm going to make it back.
"I can get high, two blocks from here.
"Please let me in."
And they wouldn't.
(dejected music)
I just slept there for the night.
I came out in the morning, they let me in.
I stayed 15 days, we were trying to find a program to go to
and Casey was like, "Can you please call Mary Hall,
"I know you've being there before."
I said, "Yeah, I can talk to them."
I said, "Are you really ready?
Are you sure you're ready?"
She said, "Yeah."
And I called, I talked to them, I was here the next day.
- Well, when somebody says, what's the success
of Mary Hall Freedom House, I say,
"We all gotta measure success differently."
Because if a woman's being out there,
getting high 30, 40 years and she come
to Mary Hall Freedom House,
and she's being clean now eight months,
but she relapses and she comes back.
I tell them, my job was to ruin her next episode
because now she's got the education
and she's got the experience of knowing recovery's possible.
And she comes back a month later and says,
"Can I try again?"
That's recovery.
Again and again.
Because it's possible, don't give up.
Just because the person goes back out there.
Because no matter how many times, if they're still alive,
God's got a plan for them.
You know, so don't you give up,
just keep believing and keep praying.
Recovery's possible.
- Well, I was incarcerated for like eight months
and during that whole eight months,
I didn't see my daughter at all.
So, that was the longest I've ever spent without my child.
And I understand why she didn't wanna bring her up there
and I really didn't want her to see me in there like that
but when I got out of jail,
like I was planning on picking up,
you know, where I left off.
And my mom was like, "Don't worry about her,
"you just worry about that one right there.
"I got her, I had her the whole time."
So I'm sitting like, "How you gonna try and stop me?"
You know like that, it hurt my feelings,
like I wanted to cry.
But I wanted to come in here to Mary Hall
and of course I had to basically take my child,
like a thief in the night.
And she would call my probation officer,
she was trying to get me to go back to jail,
all of that stuff.
I mean, I had every right
to wanna cut my mother out of my life for real.
So, I mean, I just stopped talking to her
and I realized that I know my mom's heart, you know.
So, with that being said though,
these past six months, our relationship is getting better.
We talk on the phone every day.
You know, she's always like, "Send me pictures of the baby."
So everything that I was hoping for,
that would happen from the beginning
of our relationship is happening.
I could see everything. - It just took some time.
- Yeah.
- Ladies, this circle is full, it takes a minute,
nobody walks 360 degrees in under 30 seconds.
- That's something I'm working on.
Like you said. - Right.
- Like all the things we go through
because the other things we allow them
to do to us in our addiction.
It is like, whenever I do like speak up for myself,
it's like the table get turned back around on me.
Then, it comes to me having to explain myself.
It's like, I can't even explain exactly what I'm saying
because they have thrown me out for week,
what I actually wanted to say to them.
Like, they here me, but it's like,
"What you talking 'bout."
You understand what I'm saying,
but you just trying to--
- Everybody who you wanted to talk
and you want to set boundaries with,
is not going to be receptive of that.
And it will be certain people ladies,
you going to have to let go of.
And there's a certain level of respect
that I demand because I am a strong independent woman.
Does that make sense?
And that's what we're doing.
That confidence is your ability to ask for that.
Hey, I get that I'm here
and I'm going through these processes
and I've made some poor choices,
but this is what we're focused on
and this is what my issue is,
can we talk about solutions.
Versus, you didn't hear me, your not listening.
Why do I have to keep repeating myself,
you keep bringing up my issues.
'Cause that conversation is unproductive.
Does that make sense?
And you laugh, 'cause that was how that conversation went.
(laughing)
- Drug addiction, sometime is the self medication
of a mental illness.
And when they come to treatment,
they begin to take off the mask
and the mental health kind of manifests
and then you've gotta treat that as well.
So, this is one of the various counseling sessions
that are lead by clinicians, peer groups, carers, CPS's,
they're behind closed doors,
they're able to go deep and wide and get it all out.
It's one step at a time.
Get them clean and sober
and then deal with the ills of their life.
And sometimes mental illness is one of those illnesses.
That's the goal, the program gets to the root
and to the heart of the matter.
- My name is Jessica, I'm 29 years old
and I have 68 days of recovery.
I never fitted into school, I didn't like school.
So when things were hard for me, I just acted out.
I started hanging out with everyone else,
going to sneak behind the school, to smoke weed.
I turned 17 years old, then I started doing ecstasy.
At the age of 23, I started doing powder cocaine.
So, this day, I had being up for like two days.
I was up drinking and using and my kids were there
and my niece was there.
And my friend came got me, but I didn't see her there.
They was in the house and I left them there
with my 12 year old niece.
Someone came and woke me up and like,
"They keep blowing the phone up."
So when I called, my Aunt was like,
"Jessica, you need to go to your kids
"at your Grandmother house,
"'cause she called DFCS on you."
Oh, from there, they put my baby in temporary custody
with my Aunt.
(sorrowful music)
- It's gonna be okay.
- I felt ashamed.
'Cause I knew that everyone knew what I did,
so I didn't wanna talk to anyone.
I just didn't know how to handle it, to be honest.
I just miss, just like being with them, holding them.
It's a lot of things that I don't miss at all.
My Councilor's gonna help me go to court,
so I can get my kids to come here and stay with me.
I'm not rushing them to be here.
You see, that's what I need first, my recovery.
I don't think I'm really, really ready right now,
like for them to come right now, I'm not ready.
(hopeful music)
- Hello. - We'll call in a visit.
This here Tara. - Hey, how are you.
- So, on 2015, this woman,
who works for a company called Mimms Enterprises,
her boss walks in one day, David Mimms says,
"The day we should get rid of that Warner Street building,
"who do we need to give it to?"
And she said, "You need to give it to Lucy."
And he said, "I wanna honor my mother with it,
because of the work that you do, Lucy,
I really wanna honor my mother."
And so, I said, "I would be honored to do that."
You know, because he's mom actually died,
the same year I started Mary Hall.
And so, this is the Donna Center for Woman
and it will be the first 24/7 center in Atlanta
for woman and woman with children.
And basically what that means is, this is Saturday,
we standing here Saturday at 5 o'clock p.m.
If a woman needed help right now in Atlanta,
where would she go?
She'd go to the ER, go to jail,
under a bridge, turn a trick,
the list goes on and on and on about her options
but none of them is an open door
to safety and a new way of life.
She can come in here at 11 o'clock tonight,
tore up from the floor, as long as she don't act up,
we could still stay.
(laughing)
Do you understand what I'm saying?
This whole thing has being a true faith journey.
It has blown my mind.
'Cause this girl keeps doing the work
and we sometimes don't even have the money,
but she will not stop the work.
- Because I experience the fact that when I did need a place
to go, I had nothing here for me to go to
and it was in the middle and having a husband,
instead that time and still needed a place to you,
you'd think that once you get married,
you're secure and you won't need anybody,
'cause you have him.
And I didn't wanna tell my mother, because I had a husband.
So, I didn't want him to know.
So, I was hiding it from her and I ran,
I went to a little place around the corner
that was for housing for woman, I went them.
They like, "I'm sorry, we don't have any room."
And you're like, "Where am I gonna go now?"
And I called one of my friends and her mom said,
"Well, you can come stay with us."
So, we end up going to stay with her.
But at that time, if I hadn't gotten
that call from her momma, we would've had nowhere to go.
So, I don't want anybody to experience that.
Because it's not a good thing, when you have two kids
and you're out in the middle of the night
and you have nowhere to go.
So I don't want nobody else to go through that.
So, for me, this is kind of personal.
So like, when Lucy says, "Well, I don't have any money."
That's okay, will contain
and do construction until we get the money.
Because I know this is what God gave us this project.
But when they tell us, we're not gonna be in this community,
we fought hard and God gave us everything we needed.
We got all the unanimous vote from the city of Atlanta,
when they said they weren't gonna give it to us
and we got it.
So, I just know that he ordained that.
Everything else is gonna work out.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Each year, Mary Hope Freedom House,
hosts a series of fundraisers.
This year is especially important,
with the Donna Center project pending.
There's live music, good food and fellowship.
But the purpose for the gathering comes into focus,
when the women share their stories.
(audience clapping)
- My name is Stephanie, I'm 24
and I have 320 days clean.
I started smoking weed at 12.
I was hanging out with people
and then you know, I started doing pills.
I was going to Hartwell, Georgia,
going to buy some pills and so when I got there,
he's window was open.
And I seen like some pill bottles.
And I was like, "Hell this,
"I'm about to go in there and get some pills."
When I got in the house, all I heard was like a gunshot.
(gun firing)
I went to run and when I looked down,
my leg was just squirting blood.
And after I got shot, you know,
I was like still getting high.
Like I was on my crutches, you know,
going to get some pills, like hopping.
I wanted to stop, but I couldn't.
I didn't know how.
I just remember just one of my friends had passed away,
from an overdose and it just kind of hit me like,
I don't wanna die like that.
The girl that passed away,
her mom actually was the one that brought me up here.
The trip up here, it was hard.
It was.
And I just remember her saying, some of us have to die
so that some of us can live.
(sobbing)
And, she was like,
if she could help save someone else's child's life
that she would.
She gave me money, she bought me food.
And I don't know why she gave me, her daughters obituary
and all she was saying to me was,
"I wanna, if this program could've saved my daughters life."
- Stephanie, how much you checking in Stephanie
and let us know how you're doing today.
- I doing good, I'm real tired from working.
And like, my most recent struggle,
like last week I was just having a lot of thoughts
and stuff of like getting high and I to break down
and call Miss. Tara, 'cause my sponsor didn't answer.
- Was there some type of words of encouragement
that she gave you?
- Yeah, just mainly like encouraging me and telling me,
it aint nothing but the devil.
- So Miss. Tara is one of your life accountability people?
- One of them.
- Okay, so when you leave Mary Hall,
could you see yourself staying in contact with Miss. Tara?
- Oh yeah. - Okay, good, thank you.
(upbeat music)
- I do now, wanna get a car.
And that kind of seems like forever away.
And then as far as school, you know like the process
of getting into school.
'Cause I mean, I graduated high school,
but I just didn't ever go any further.
- What's amazing to me about Stephanie is,
she is one of those women who for me,
she got my phone number,
and I still don't know how she got my cell phone number.
And I laughed, 'cause she was on this date
and literally she texted me the whole thing.
From beginning to end.
We're going here, we just ate, we did this, we did that.
She wants to tell somebody she's getting ready
to do this new phase of her recovery.
What is next for you?
- Well you know, I was looking to going
to cosmetology school.
And I see, when Alley put on Facebook,
she started working here and I'm gonna work here one day.
- All right, I know that's right baby girl,
you got it, there you go, all right.
I'm excited when you say,
"As much as I wanna do cosmetology."
I can feel my heart being lead in another direction.
That means you are turning your will
and your life over to God.
That's just makes me wanna cry,
'cause that's what it's about.
That's truly what's it about.
I can remember going to a meeting
and a number of things had happened
and I raised my hand and I take the room captive,
'cause again, I can do drama,
so everybody needs to stop and listen to me,
I lost my job, my boyfriend and I broke up
and something else probably happened
and I just thought, life was over.
You know, poor me.
And my sponsor Judith at the time
was working at a treatment center.
And she said, "Well, Lucy,
why don't you come volunteer over here?"
so I went over to St. Joseph Rehab and started volunteering.
And literally within 30 days they offered me a job at night,
working in recovery, started giving it back.
You know, once you got two years clean,
I remember going to get me CAC,
becoming a credential alcohol counselor and going to school,
to be able to work in the field of addiction.
Now I'm living life on life's terms.
And I'm a productive member of society.
Four, five years out on recovery now,
I'm living and hanging out with my family.
People wanna be around you,
your family loves you even more now.
And I remember coming to Georgia and visiting my brother.
(hip hop music)
And I was like, "Whoa, Georgia, the mall, black people."
and Phinilla's like, "Wait a minute,
"Georgia's got it going on."
My brother lived in a nice house out in Stone Mountain,
it was like, "Wait a minute,
"Georgia looks like the place to be."
And I remember writing to my brother and saying,
you know I wanna find a job and come to Georgia.
And he was like, "Well, come on, you can come down here."
So he started sending me the AJC,
'cause back then there was no internet,
you couldn't just pop online
and put your resume out there on social media, none of that.
You used a newspaper.
So I looked in the paper and I found a job at the YWCA,
which was a homeless shelter for women.
And I put my resume in and I interviewed and they hired me.
And I went to work at a shelter,
thinking that these women were in recovery,
like I had being doing up in New York.
Only to get there and realize,
shelters at that time were set up
so that you only had 90 days,
you had 90 days to come into this shelter,
you or you and your children.
I was hired as the Resource Counselor.
So I would go get the kids in school,
go get the mother on food stamps,
go enable them to do what,
never really introducing them to recovering.
I literally remember one day, sitting there
with a woman, who needed treatment
and said she wanted treatment.
And I was making call after call after call
and couldn't find any place for her.
There was no place for her to go
and get the help that she was seeking.
And I said, "Somethings wrong with this,
"where is there a treatment program,
"here in Georgia for women?"
And that's when it just like, a light bulb went off,
it's like, "Okay, we gotta do something about this."
and so, that's really were Mary Hall Freedom House
was birthed.
When I first went and got an apartment
to start Mary Hall Freedom House,
I went to all of the treatment programs,
Anchor Hospital, the CAB Addiction Clinic, Charter Peachford
and I remember June 1st 1996,
Charter Peachford calling me up,
the nurses name was Betty.
I remember Betty as though it was yesterday.
Betty called me she said, "Hey Lucy,
"do you got that program open yet?"
I say, "Yes, ma'am."
She's like, "Well, I've got two ladies for you
"that are ready for discharge.
"Can you come get them?"
I said, "Absolutely."
And I remember going to pick up Debbie and Donna.
(excitement music)
As I remember going over and interviewing Debbie and Donna,
like I knew what I was doing and doing an intake assessment
and asking them questions about, you know,
your last day of use.
And Donna was like, "About a week ago."
Debbie said, "Five days ago."
I asked, "What do you do for work?"
Donna said, "I don't have a job, I live with my parents."
And Debbie was like, "I'm a nurse."
Any children?
Debbie was like, "I have a son."
Donna was a twin,
I remember Donna being this beautiful blonde,
who was a twin, whose family was very concerned,
about her getting out of treatment and not coming home.
And Debbie, Debbie had a son,
who she said that she was a nurse.
And that she had being drinking.
So both of them had being in Charter Peachford,
a couple of times.
And that's why nurse Betty called.
They knew that these people needed longer term.
'Cause detox at the time was three, four days
and then you went back to the community
or the place where you came from,
which really wasn't conducive
to continue the journey of recovery.
So that's why the concept of Mary Hall caught on,
like wildfire.
There was now someplace for people to go,
beyond the three day detox, or the 28 day program.
There was now a halfway house,
a long-term solution of hope for these women.
I remember, in 90 days from that day,
we went from those two women, to 24 women.
Today Mary Hall Freedom House serves about 200 women
and 80 children on any given day,
in seven different types of programs.
Today, we just don't serve and treat addiction,
we treat homelessness, poverty and the ills of life.
Mental illness, domestic violence.
Whatever a sister's struggling with,
we have a spot for you at Mary Hall.
- [Narrator] As each woman enters with different issues,
backgrounds and starting points,
the road to recovery is an individual journey.
- So today, what we're gonna do is develop our own ledger,
using our own money.
Before you to go get a gym membership, and nails and wigs,
I need to make sure that you can afford to live.
- [Narrator] So while Patricia and Stephanie,
are in out-patient treatment learning financial management,
Melissa is in the Work NOW Program,
training for a new career.
- I start my apprenticeship into the
Painters and Associate Trades in June.
- [Mom] Well, I'm glad everything's happening,
in your way finally.
(chuckling)
- Took a minute, but I'm here.
Yeah, life's a whole lot better today.
- Yeah, sounds like it. - Yeah.
- [Narrator] While this training gives them hope,
it's only one part of recovery.
Over 46% of Americans have a family member
or close friend with a current or past drug addiction.
So the work Lucy does with addicts,
benefits the entire village.
And the work she does to reunite mothers
and children will benefit the village of our future.
- The young lady who actually does my hair,
she came through here with her mother in '96.
And she just had a baby, so.
And her and her husband just bought a house.
So, that's the part that excites me.
Most people will say, Well, if anything, you're getting old.
No, I'm seeing the generational curses broken.
- Right.
- That excites me.
- [Narrator] Natasha is one of the women,
currently going through the process
of reuniting with her children.
She was recently awarded full custody
of her youngest daughter and visitation with her eldest.
- Come on Tashi.
- No, you can open the whole thing.
- I wanna do it like this.
- You know what that is?
- We're making slime.
- Let me see something? - No.
- You don't want her to see it?
My motivation are my kids,
very much so.
Yes, I love my kids dearly.
And I've did a whole lot of harm to them from the drug use.
You know, it's being a burden on me for a minute now,
but you know, if I had to stay clean to deal with it.
(laughing)
Let momma help you.
This is Tashianna, she's two years old.
Say hi Tashianna.
Say hi.
This is Talia, she's 11 years old.
As at this point, we're still working on it.
The worker came by yesterday, she's spoke to me,
so we going back to court on July,
my DFCS case is gonna be closed down.
It's a wonderful feeling.
'Cause I love my kids, I'm so happy
to have them back in my life, clean and sober.
We're able to sit down and have good fun family time.
It was a journey, I just had to come here
and do what I needed to do, in order
to be a good mother for them,
'cause I wasn't gonna be able to,
I was gonna loose custody of my kids,
if I wouldn't have came.
- Gone make a ball. - Yeah, these my babies.
Now working on, my goal is to save me some money
and in two years, maybe to buy my own house.
So I can let the next lady,
who lives with mothers and children have this apartment.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] The next mother may very well be Jessica.
Who is anxious to get her kids back.
(apprehensive music) - So how long has it being,
since you being away from your babies?
- Well, they be in custody for two years.
How long did the process take,
I mean was your baby big in life,
what you had to do to do through.
- The process is several months.
You start with some transport
and then it gets uncivilized
and then transition to be with you.
So, just trust the process.
- Okay.
- You'll get your kids back, just keep coming,
showing up and showing out, you'll get your kids back.
- Yeah I'm nervous 'cause I go to court on the 11th so.
I'm just hoping that they,
at least I get unsupervised visits,
then it progressed until me get my baby back.
- Just be patient.
- All right, I am.
- 'Cause it seem like it takes forever,
but really, it doesn't.
Just because we wanna be with our kids 24/7
but you be patient. - Yeah.
- So even though we hold graduation every June,
it takes a lot to be successful and to cross that stage.
And for every person it's individual,
it's their plan of how they're going
to improve the quality of their life.
For Jessica, she's still searching for what that is.
For Shyanna, things are becoming more clear.
(thoughtful music)
- Well the mothers with children who always be like,
"I wanna go back to school, I wanna go back to school."
Y'all, we can do this,
it's just a matter of actually doing it.
Like you've got to put footwork in.
Like I said, I've wanted to go back to school
and I'm doing it now, you know.
Like, I'm seeing these short-term goals
that I had planned for myself and I'm finally doing it.
Like I'm checking them off my checklist.
Like, um, check, you know.
So, I'm happy about that.
Before coming here, I wouldn't have being able to see that.
Like I always kept saying, "Oh, I wanna go back to school."
it was just a pipe-dream.
I tried really hard to do everything
that I'm doing right now and it wasn't just talk,
it was action.
I feel really good.
(laughing)
I feel really good about that.
So, yeah.
(uplifting music)
- It has become several years before you hit a bottom
and therefore you need a long-term solution.
And that's really what Mary Hall Freedom House became.
Addiction is not a common cold.
It's not even the hives, that will go away.
It is like a cancer, like diabetes,
it has to be treated over time.
- [Narrator] I started to wonder,
where are the ribbons, parades and T-shirts
that celebrate recovery, like we see for cancer or AIDS.
In our search for answers,
Lucy paid a visit to her friend, Neil Campbell,
Executive Director of the Georgia Council
on Substance Abuse.
- I'm ready. - Lucy.
(laughing)
Hi, welcome. - Love you bunch.
- It's always good to see you.
I love you too. - Always,
always good to see you.
I mean, you and I always talk about living it out loud.
And I think God, we're not anonymous people anymore,
we've got to make sure recovery is lived out loud.
But I want you to tell me a little bit,
about your thoughts in terms of what's the solution today.
- Oh goodness, I think a huge part
of it is given voice to recovery.
I think we've being anonymous too long.
- Yeah.
- There's 23, 24 million people in this country
that are in recovery and we don't ever hear that.
All we see is the problem.
So I think, you know, one of the things
that we try to do or change,
in the social norms around addiction.
So when people think of addiction,
they don't think of someone living under a bridge,
they think of us.
- You and I got 30 years of recovery.
(chuckling)
I wanna tell the world-- - 16 years of recovery.
- Yeah. - 'Cause they knew us,
when we were out there,
why shouldn't they know us in recovery,
we wanna hide that up.
- Yeah, so we've got to let other people know,
especially these 16, 'cause I started using in my teens.
- Yeah, me too.
- Because nobody ever told me anything about it.
- Yeah, we go into high schools
and we have conversations with them
and the only commitment we ask from them
is that they talk to us honestly about it.
- Exactly. - About their use
and why they're using.
And so we hear things like, "My depression,
"my anxiety, or I can't go into a social situation
"without taking a little bump, 'cause I'm so insecure."
- Absolutely. - I mean,
kids are using for a reason.
And like you said, they start younger,
the availability, if we look at how available opiates are,
these days.
Washington Post has an article,
where you can actually see,
where the pills have being distributed,
in the country. - That's scary.
- 76 Billion is a six year period.
And we sit around here
and wonder why we're not seeing a more sense
of urgency in this State.
Between three and four people per day are dying of
opium overdose.
If it was any other illness-- - Right.
- If it was Ebola. - Right.
- If it was West Nile,
if we had three or four people die in a day,
everybody would be laser-focused.
- Absolutely.
- Because it's us, because it's people,
who were using substances and may have a mental illness,
we don't talk about it as much.
Sometimes I just wanna grab some policy-makers
by the lapel and say, "What are you doing?"
- Right.
- You know, we know we can do this, we can fight this,
we just gotta fight it harder.
- And what scares me a lot of times,
is it's getting younger.
Meaning these young people are given,
prescription drugs to treat something
and then they get hooked on it
and so now all of a sudden I have this pill
that's making me feel better and not deal with my anxiety
or not deal with my bipolar, and not deal with,
and it escalates and I want more, and I want more
and I want more and the next thing you know, they're dead.
And nobody sees that.
We can talk about both,
we can't keep talking about addiction over here
and mental illness over here.
We've got to talk about it all in one.
- We have this expectation of people,
who are coming back from a substance use disorder,
from a mental illness that suddenly it's gonna be okay.
Well, so many times they end up incarcerated
or we end up in institutionalized in some of way
and then we come back to our communities
and everybody's afraid of us.
Those communities have a role to make,
to be more recovery-friendly.
For every dollar you spend on treatment
and recovery services,
you save $7 in criminal justice costs.
That's amazing, that's a return on investment.
- Absolutely.
- We need to be doing more of that.
If I come out of prison and I have a felony
and I can't find a job, you know,
what am I supposed to do. - How am I gonna survive.
- Or if I have a drug felony,
I can't live in certain situation,
I'm banished from certain places.
It's like, if the community and the place where you grew up
and the place where your family lives,
isn't gonna be about redemption, who is?
- [Narrator] Since the last 1800s,
there have being many theories
and scientific experiments searching
for a way to cure addiction.
(upbeat music)
Experiments done in the 1930s,
were scientists placed rats into isolated cages
to see if they would choose clean water, or drug water.
Later, they did research on addictive Vets,
returning from war.
Would they continue to use or not.
And then there were new experiments in the 1970s.
This time the rats were placed in large relaxing enclosures,
basically rat-paradise.
In this environment, they mostly chose the clean water.
Although some of these controversial experiments,
gave insight to the addictive mind,
they was still no magic-pill.
Eventually, Federal Drug Policy,
became concentrated on narcotics control,
through law enforcement.
And prevention, or treatment were de-emphasized.
- You shouldn't have to get arrested to get well.
So one of our major missions is to show
that regardless of socio-economic status,
regardless of race, gender any of those factors,
don't make a difference.
Everybody is vulnerable to addiction.
You know, this country makes up about 6%
of the worlds population and yet we use about 75%
of the legal prescription drugs.
That's crazy.
Just having sickness, we think you can cure it with a pill.
We have to stop being ashamed of ourselves
and ashamed of the road we've taken
but be proud of the fact that we've gotten better.
Because that shows that other people can get better too.
We believe that through telling our stories,
other people know that recovery is possible.
- [Narrator] I'm no scientist, nor an agent of the law,
but I do believe what everyone being trying
to figure out exists in the village Lucy built.
(thought-provoking music)
A village with pathways to recovery, instead of punishment.
A village where families go hard on the problem
and not the people they love.
A village where addicts and their allies,
work together to heal.
A Hope Village.
Where mothers are reunited with their children.
(hip hop music)
- This is my first born, her names Arianna.
She's 11 years old.
And she's going to to the 6th grade.
This is Taylor and Tyler.
Taylor is the first born, they're twins.
And Taylor is four years old and Tyler is four.
- You playing, come on.
- Come up on the swing. - No, it's baby one.
- It's a baby swing.
- Not too high, not too hig.
- Well Arianna, I loves seeing you every week.
I can't wait til we get back together
and just be a family.
It's just, I'll be there for you, like with everything,
I'll help you with your homework,
make sure you get up on time for school.
You know, and everything.
'Cause being there for y'all,
I can't wait for your graduation.
I'm doing your hair today, you're gonna look pretty.
- You going to the graduation? - Hi, you graduating soon?
This my problem child. - No.
- Yes, you is.
You give me a hard time, all the time.
I love seeing them in time, like spending time with them,
at the time I actually lost like actually being a mother
and just being active in their life.
To be able to take them to places
and do things that I being wanting to do with them.
So, all of that is coming together now.
I'm just waiting to get my place
and just have them there with me
and just be a good mother to them,
like I should have in the beginning.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] As Jessica finally gets to visit,
she's being waiting for with her kids,
the rest of the women at Mary Hall Freedom House prepare
to celebrate their upcoming graduation.
- When I first start working here,
I seen a couple of ladies that come in
and I'm like, scratching my head,
going like, "Wow, why she here,
"there isn't nothing left to do."
'Cause of my understanding, I used to think
that there was a living and life God in others intend
for us to fall.
And when you fall down, you're just through,
you're just finished.
But I seen people came in here
that went beyond that level that I used to believe.
And lasted six months, I mean you look at them again,
they look like movie stars.
They actually get their kids back, get their husbands back,
they get hope, become first-time homeowners.
Become business owners and I'm like, "Wow."
And if I seen this, I was like,
"There's no place for a person who fall
"that God cannot reach."
(upbeat music)
- We're excited to be out here today,
simply because it is the time of year where we get
to celebrate the success of transformation of life.
These women have turned their lives around
and we have a cook-out, then we do graduation
and we just ask them and their families to come celebrate.
You know, the most important thing
is learning how to have life sober, how to do life sober.
And know that you can have a good time
without being high.
We're gonna get our dance on a little bit.
You know all that good stuff.
And just have a great time.
♪ This is your call, this is your start ♪
♪ This is your time ♪
♪ It's gonna be ♪
(crowd cheering)
♪ This is your day, this is your night ♪
♪ This is your life ♪
♪ It's gonna be messy ♪
- Wednesday's we all got to all sing in the choir.
- Yeah. - I can't--
(laughing)
- Where you there, I was there,
I was at practice yesterday, it was real deep.
- Really?
- Yeah, I felt like the ladies were getting emotional,
just practicing the song.
- Really? - Yeah.
You go to the Zone, like any of those sober fun places?
- Huh-um.
- Why not, that's a nice place you can drive to.
- Where, I aint heard about this now.
- You never heard of the Zone? - Huh-huh.
- I wanna say it's like a recreational center
for people in recovery.
So they have like, parties there, like events there.
They have a lot of stuff there, you should try.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- Now the solution is creating a community of recovery.
You know and so, right now a big push
is creating recovery communities of care,
which is people needing the supports of other people,
who are doing likely.
And that's what Mary Hall Freedom House is,
a community of recovery, it's a community of sisterhood.
You know, one sister showing another sister,
I can do this a day at a time.
- [Narrator] Some of the most important community members
has support an addict in recovery are their family members
and once a month, Lucy invites the families
to come learn how they can become an ally
and support their loved ones in recovery.
(heartfelt music)
- We think the gateway drugs alcohol and marijuana
because they're legal, they're all right.
But if you drink to go to sleep
and you don't even remember when you passed out,
let's have a conversation.
'cause there's a fine line out there
that most people don't even know they've crossed.
I always tell the women, my story.
I used to smoke crack in the bathroom.
And so when I stopped getting high and today,
if you go to my house, what's in my bathroom is my bible.
Because I had to put something in that place
that was greater than was what was used to be in that place.
And so 29 years later,
I didn't stop doing what I've done to recover.
And that's what happens a lot of times,
people stop doing what got them to this place.
Right Amanda?
Amanda, you said you out there 10 years.
- Yeah.
- [Lucy] So, being out there 10 years
and now in recovery how long?
- Six months.
- [Lucy] You think six months in the bucket,
is gonna make me all better?
- Oh no. - [Lucy] Mom said, "Oh, no."
Mom's over here going um-um.
- I've learned so much
and I've learned how poorly we do handle it
as an issue in the community and in treatment.
And what really has being lacking
is what you provide here, is one, the length of time.
So, I think that, as all of us that are in recovery
with our addicts and recovery, that's part of the advocacy
is helping to change the healthcare system
to provide better services.
Because there's just not enough Mary Hall's.
- And you know something, mom, that is my prayer, my dream.
I always say and I've told different people,
if I can put a Hope Village in every town,
we'd be in business, 'cause everybody,
and that's what we are here, hope dealers.
We push hope to the lost, we push hope to the community.
And sometimes in helping others,
you not only help yourself but you do help your loved ones.
- So what we see always is, not in my backyard,
we love what you do and I don't wanna do it here.
It's great that you do it, wonderful, bless you,
all that other stuff.
So from my perspective as a community advocate,
that's what I wanna show.
I wanna show, look around this room,
their your neighbors, their your daughters,
their your cousins, their your whatever.
These are normal people.
This isn't an abnormal thing.
You know addiction is such a prevailing problem,
in the community, it's unbelievable.
It doesn't matter if it's black or white, or brown or yellow
or young or old or if female or male,
that's what I've seen here.
It's always what's attracted me to here.
There is a way out, there is an answer,
we just have to get the word out.
- Like I always tell the women in recovery,
now you're the disciple that gotta go share it.
- Amen.
- You're the person who's gotta go tell your story.
You've gotta be an advocate.
- I'm nervous, because we didn't have a graduation
at the first, not the first, the other treatment
that I was in, we didn't have nothing like this.
So I'm very, very nervous.
But I can do it.
(heartwarming music)
(audience clapping)
- There comes a moment in every one of those woman's lives
that they know that they in recovery
and they're ready to graduate
because they've met those goals that they set out for.
And she knows the difference between just being sober
and being in recovery.
She's ready to celebrate it and so are we.
(audience applauding)
Our Father and our God, this is the day that you have made,
we rejoice and we are glad in it.
I thank you for this day, but I thank you
for the later days, a year from now,
10 years from now, that they will continue this journey
of new light called recovery.
And God you said, if we took one step
that you would carry us the rest of the way.
So we thank you that we've turned to you,
believing that if we lean not to our own understanding
and know all of our ways, we acknowledge you.
- [All] Amen.
- My mother only had an 8th grade education
and from the time I was a child, she had a vision a plan.
You know what my mother said to me?
"In spite of where we come from, in spite of the poverty,
"the rats, the roaches the vicious poverty
"that we have to live under,
"you gotta get on my shoulders and do better than I did."
Are you all with me out there? - [Audience] Yes, amen.
- You gotta see some things that I can't see.
- That's right. - Right?
My mother had, what we call a vision.
Lucy Hall and this program has a vision.
The women on this stage have a vision,
'cause they're like, "You know what,
"it doesn't matter where I was before,
"what matters is where I am right now."
Are you all with me out there? (audience clapping)
♪ Never said there wouldn't be trials ♪
♪ Never said I would be far ♪
- Welcome to--
♪ Never said that everything would go ♪
♪ The way I want it to go ♪
(audience applauding)
♪ But when my back is against the wall ♪
♪ And I feel all hope is gone ♪
♪ I'll just lift my head up to the sky ♪
♪ And say help me to be strong ♪
♪ Oh, I just can't give up now ♪
♪ Oh no, come too far from where I started from ♪
♪ Oh, nobody told me ♪
(audience applauding)
♪ Oh no, it would be easy ♪
♪ And I don't believe it's brought me this far ♪
- And it's being a journey, but it was well worth it.
(audience applauding)
- [Narrator] Come Monday,
Lucy will continue her work with a new group of women.
But first, she celebrates as the Donna Center,
finally opens it's doors.
(crowd cheering)
- 'Cause I had to keep reminding them what this was for,
'cause you were walking in here thinking,
you can check into a hotel,
but that was really what it was designed to do,
to make people feel like they were home.
- [Narrator] Through this journey,
I've learned we all have a responsibility
to our loved ones in our communities.
One simple thing we all can do,
is change the way we talk about addiction.
As a disease and not a crime.
For those in recovery, share your story
for everyone else, become an ally,
you just might save a life.
♪ I can't give up now ♪
♪ Said I've come too far ♪
♪ Come too far from where I started from ♪
♪ No one said it would be easy ♪
♪ Nobody told me, that the road would be easy ♪
♪ And I don't believe, he's brought me this far to leave me ♪
- [Narrator] Visit Hope Village Project dot com
for more information.
And get the book that accompanies this film.
Hope Dealer, A Complete Guide, From Rehab To Recovery.