I'm raising money for The Milestone House in Dover, New Jersey, which is a nonprofit recovery housing organization that provides structured, peer-supported housing for people in early recovery from substance use.

My journey at Milestone started when my family told me I would never be able to get clean, and stay clean in New Jersey. My entire drug use was in New Jersey so I understood their perspective. But what they didn't know is that wherever I go, I take me...It wasn't the drugs that were the problem, it was me. Whatever I was looking for I was going to find. And I desperately wanted to find freedom from the life I had been living for so long in active addiction. I wanted to get clean and stay clean this time. So in 2012 I stubbornly walked into the doors of The Milestone House praying I could prove my point. I was filled with so much guilt and shame, afraid of my own shadow, hating who I had become and the family I had hurt so badly. But with that, I also carried a tiny bit of hope that this time I had a chance.

I lived at Milestone for 16 months. In that time I became a part of a community of people just like me who struggled with the disease of addiction and had lost their way. It was a safe place for me where I could get my life back on track without the pressure of handling it all alone. The staff poured their love, encouragement, and experience into me. They told me they would love me until I learned to love myself. I would not have the life I have today if it weren't for the foundation of my recovery I built at The Milestone House.

I very much wanted to be apart of the Harvest Healing fundraiser this year so other people like me could have the opportunity to rebuild their lives and learn to live, one day at a time, in recovery. For me, I will always serve in any capacity to show my continued gratitude for what they did for me. Today, I am honored to serve as a board member at The Milestone House. I have the privilege of watching others walk through their doors with very little and leave with a solid foundation of a new life. A clean slate. Please I am asking you to help in any way that you can to further the future of the place that breathed life back into me and can for so many more. We CAN and we Do recover!!

Thank you for supporting recovery.