While “Joe & Shirley’s Place” provides sober housing & support services to its residents, ARSR continues to serve newly recovering, homeless addicts/alcoholics in our community who do not stay at JSP.

In 2007 ARSR provided support services to 44 other individuals who were not one of the 62 JSP residents last year. These services included $10,910.00 in bus passes, clothing, food, general, health & dental, motels, other transportation, personal items and room rents for those persons that ARSR referred
and placed in other, local sober ¾ houses.

I spend an average of 40 hours a month on my cell phone, fielding distress calls, advocating for people and problem solving, all in an effort to provide safe/sober housing and support services. The following are some examples of what we do behind the scenes:

This past month, because JSP was at full capacity, we provided the 1st months rent to five individuals at three separate sober houses in Lansing. Those persons received bus passes and a small amount of cash for food and personal items. Referrals came from 55th District Court, Central Diagnostic and Referral Services, CEI-CMH, Bridges Crisis Unit and National Council on Alcoholism, Holden House. Another female being released from treatment in Port Huron (from Lansing) received start up funds to begin a stay at a ¾ house there. We could not find any female, sober housing options in this region for
her.

I received a distress call from some distraught parents recently, whose son was in his second day of heroin withdrawal. They were beside themselves,
trying to navigate the “system.” The detox center in one city was waiting for a confirmation of a treatment bed at a facility in another city. The treatment facility was waiting for a confirmation from the detox center that the client would be detoxed upon arrival and so on and so on… Their call came to me on a Friday night around 10:00 P.M. Thanks to a local, compassionate medical professional, the young man got some relief until he finally got to detox the following Monday A.M.

JSP residents recently rallied to the aide of a female just released from the Ingham County Jail, wanting to get out of a crack house and into residential
treatment. Residents brought her to JSP and stayed with her around the clock. Thanks to some excellent collaboration with Lisa Larson at CDRS, the treatment center and The Treatment Outreach Program at CEI-CMH, this person was safely in treatment within 24 hours.

ARSR and JSP residents respond to those in need, one person, and one dollar at a time. We appreciate this community’s continued support. Thank
you!

Dave Beatty
Executive Director
Addiction Relief & Supported Recovery,
Inc.
Diamonds in the Rough