Bottle drive to benefit new recovery home in Caribou

4 years ago

CARIBOU, Maine — A new men’s recovery house in Caribou will benefit from an area-wide bottle drive from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 12, at Bennett Drive Redemption. 

Residents from throughout the area are urged to bring returnable containers to the redemption center. The event will kick off a permanent effort to help provide financial support for the Recovery House. The house has recently passed inspection by the Maine State Housing Authority.

The Caribou Recovery House will be managed by the Center for the Advancement of Rural Living in cooperation with Recovery Aroostook, a grassroots community organization focused on creating a recovery community. Volunteers with CARL and Recovery Aroostook have been working on the property over the past several months and plans are in place to open the facility later this summer. 

Lisa Prescott, president of the CARL board of directors, said the community has generously helped to meet some of the needs of the facility, and that the bottle drive will help sustain the project until it is fully open.

“We have been blessed with community support,” said Prescott, who has led CARL over the past three years. “People have donated furniture, dishes, appliances, and more. We have also received financial contributions that have really helped, including a $5,000 donation from Machias Savings Bank which made a huge difference in getting the major work done, including electrical work and painting supplies.”

Prescott said the Caribou Rotary Club recently volunteered to build a new deck at the Recovery House. 

“We were so pleased that the Rotary Club offered to build our new deck,” said Prescott. “It really is a great addition to the facility and a great example of community support.”

The Caribou Recovery House will offer a drug- and alcohol-free living environment for men seeking long-term recovery from substance use disorder. John Holabird, the manager of the Bennett Drive Redemption Center in Caribou, said that with more than 100 such facilities across the state of Maine it was time that those in recovery here in Aroostook County had the same opportunity. 

“So often people in recovery just don’t have a place to go when they come out of a rehab program and they end up in the same circumstance that led them to addiction in the first place,” said Holabird, who struggled with addiction for years but has now been alcohol- and drug-free for nearly three years. “The recovery house will really offer men a fresh start with support and guidance as well as a clean, safe place to live”.

Men who live in the recovery house will be required to attend regular Alcoholics Anonymous and or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, secure a sponsor, and be engaged in employment, school or volunteering 40 hours per week. They also must perform chores to maintain the house and sign a pledge to remain free of drugs and alcohol while living at the residence. Five men, along with a live-in manager, will reside there.

 Now that the house has passed Maine State Housing inspection, the next step is certification by the Maine Association of Recovery Residences. That inspection will be held on July 15.

According to Lori McMillon, vice president of the CARL board, “With the success of the men’s recovery house, CARL will look to open a similar house for women in recovery.  Addiction and substance use disorder impact both men and women.”

McMillon, who has been volunteering hours to renovate the men’s house, added, “We know that women in The County and throughout Maine have a need for such a facility and we hope to make it happen over the next year. Having the support of the community, such as this bottle drive by the Bennett Drive Redemption Center, will be critical to our efforts. We are very grateful to the center and to all those who have supported this initial project.”

All donations to the Caribou Recovery House through the Center for The Advancement of Rural Living are tax deductible. Those bringing bottles to the drive on July 12th may request receipts for the value of their donation. Individuals may wait for the receipt or tag the bags of containers with their name and phone number. 

For more information contact CARL at 207-492-2375 or visit carlcenter.org.