“I’m an advocate for recovery” Meet Angela

“My brother, he was one year under me. He never made it to his 60th birthday.”

Angela is a strong-willed pillar on our block as an “around the corner” neighbor and a regular at food outreach–still grieving many years later the loss of her adult brother.

Angela’s brother died from fentanyl-laced drug use.

We had a chance to film Angela share part of this story, and was struck by the unique perspective blending personal heartbreak with a past professional experience in addiction counseling.

”I am an advocate for recovery,” Angela shares. “I’ve been in this field since the early 90s working at Episcopal Hospital, St Joes, and other medical centers as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor.

I’m very strong at facilitating group meetings and bringing people together. In all my years in the field, I know recovery is possible. If you want it, you can get it. Relapse is not a requirement!”

She continues, “You can go through a recovery program, and be very successful with the 12-steps and supportive guidance. It’s a step at a time, a day at a time. If you use the tools given, you can stay clean and sober.”

”Support groups are essential, especially with the fentanyl epidemic. You don’t even have to do much of that to un-alive yourself… these are hard times. With young people around this stuff, it’s dangerous. It can be put into anything!”

”There was a recent death on this block, where a young man lost his life due to overdose. I knew it wasn’t much, but I gave $20 to Donny to help that family who was hurting. I told him, “Make sure that family gets this. These are the things I’m passionate about.”

Reflecting on the loss of her brother, Angela shares, “I’m still not there in terms of closure. So this is my way of giving back… you know, my mom always had 5 children. And it’s very difficult to accept the fact that there’s just four of us now as a result of something that probably could’ve been prevented.”

”I’m grateful for a place like Greenhouse Project who is directly assisting people to help them heal.”

We appreciate you, Angela, for sharing your story so others can be blessed and ministered to!