Despair, pain, loneliness and hopeless. This is how I felt at the end of my 20 years of drinking and using. I found myself wondering how this happened. It was at this time that the loving hands of the Pelican Intervention Fund reached out to help and offered me a scholarship to a 12 step recovery house. It was here that the miracle happened and real change took place. Today I am grateful for my experiences in addiction. The pain and hopelessness I once felt has become my greatest tool to help others. I thanks the Pelican Intervention Fund from the bottom of my heart. – Jason Eaton

At the age of 28 I was in the grips of addiction and new recovering would be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. In February 2020 I received a scholarship from the Pelican Intervention Fund which has completely changed my life. It gave me the help I needed to get on my own two feet and become financially independent. I am able to sponsor other women today and have the relationship with my family I have always wanted. I am forever grateful to the Pelican Fund for helping me every step of the way. – Delia

I already knew the extreme pain of losing a child. My oldest son was killed by a drunk driver in 2004, when he was 21 years old. As excruciatingly painful and life changing as it was for me to lose a piece of my heart, there is nothing that could have prepared me for the news I received on October 28, 2014. My 29 year old son had a warrant issued for his arrest.  My already broken heart was ripped out of my chest when I learned that my son had overdosed on heroin in his car in a parking lot in Lawrence two months earlier in August, 2014. How could this happen?  How did I not know?  My son had a good job, owned his own home and was engaged to be married to a beautiful, wonderful girl. 

Happiness was not something I was comfortable with. It had nothing to do with how or where I grew up it had to do with what was inside of me. I was constantly searching for someone or something to fill a void within myself. I began to find happiness in drugs and alcohol. I started experimenting with drugs as an early teen and I quickly discovered that it was what I had been searching for my whole life. These substances completed me and filled my life with joy. As my life moved forward I discovered cocaine which I abused for many years, but it still wasn’t enough and I found my drug of choice which was heroine. Within months I was using heroine intravenously several times throughout the day. It made my life manageable and worth living.

I’ve experienced the power of the Twelve Step based program.  One of my children became addicted to heroin and I had to watch helplessly as she was lost to us.  Not only was the addiction devastating to my child but also to our family.

I couldn’t believe this could happen to my child and was in denial: I enabled because I wanted to believe all the excuses that I was given.  When I realized the control the drug had on my child and the things she did to feed the addiction; I came to realize this was a disease that needed to be treated.

Although there are many paths of recovery, the one that I was placed on was a spiritual 12 step path.  When practiced daily in my life, I see tangible results from something that is seemingly intangible.  I came into this program broken down from the self-imposed prison of opiate addiction that I had created.  After many years struggling, a solution has been offered to me that isn’t just a “quick fix.” It is truly a design for living that works.

Addiction is a family disease that causes pain, anxiety and a sense of helplessness and can tear families apart. In this time of darkness and isolation, sharing the wisdom of the Twelve Steps at AL ANON I found hope, peace and healing through a spiritual journey. Such recover is a process of transformation over time.

I watched my daughter also heal at the roots as she journeyed through treatment and long term residency in Sober Living. Here in a community of love, support and accountability she learned the necessary tools to change and lived the values inherent in the Twelve Steps.  In community, over time, she rediscovered hope, self-worth and purpose and began to heal.