June 2018 Newsletter

Giving Back

Meet one of our newest team members at CORE: Michael Corcoran. Mike is a nine year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and has been deployed around the world during his years of service. Mike wants to share his recovery story as it depicts what CORE is all about!

Mike is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and like countless other people, he started down the path of addiction at a very young age.

“I started smoking meth at 14 years old, which led to a 34 year addiction,” said Mike, “I had burned most of the bridges with my family from years of addiction and abuse.”

Mike tried going to rehab but said that no sooner was he out, and he was already thinking about getting high again.

His sister did some research online and came across CORE’s website. She got in contact with our Recovery Services Manager, Buddy Krause, and within a couple of days Mike was in our intake program.

Mike says that CORE appealed to him more than other recovery centers because he was able to lead a normal life while still being held accountable for his actions.

“I had to have structure and routine in my life, and I found that here,” said Mike.

He attended our Common Solution classes, which explore the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous; as well as our spirituality classes, which teach that the true solution to any problem in life is Christ.

“Something began to change in me,” said Mike, “I wanted to know more.”

Before coming to CORE, Mike said he had never wanted anything to do with God, but that slowly began to change as he started attending Peace In The Storm Services and continued progressing in his studies.

“The first time I went to a Peace in the Storm service, I was amazed,” said Mike, “There was this incredible band playing and they were just rocking out! And there was a former addict standing up there preaching to a room full of addicts; I could really feel something in there.”

Mike said he began to look around at the staff in the room and think- I want that life.

“I was amazed by how much everyone cared about each other,” said Mike, “The fellowship in these houses is absolutely amazing; there are addicts everywhere on the streets who could care less about one another, but here they really do care.”

Mike didn’t originally know that he would end up working in the same place that had helped him heal so much, but it’s funny how often God will open the door to something we didn’t even know we wanted in the first place.

“I just knew that I wanted to be doing more, and I wanted to help others and become more involved,” said Mike.

Mike says that he prayed a lot about how God wanted him to fulfill this calling to do more and it didn’t take long before he got his answer.

“Kevin Hunt called me a couple of days later and asked if I would consider working for CORE,” said Mike, “I thought about it and realized that I wanted to be a part of this organization in whatever shape that looked like.”

Mike has been working as a custodian for the CORE campus, but will start as a House Manager this month, teaching newcomers rules, helping them learn the steps to recovery and just being a listening ear when they need someone to talk to.

“I want to be a friend to them and help them through the program,” says Mike, “I just really want to set a good example for them.”

Mike says that the hardest part of this is seeing when his brothers and sisters relapse. This is a hard one for all of us, but unfortunately it does happen. However, the hard parts are all worth it when you get to see the look in someone’s eyes as they finally get it and they just surrender.

We can’t wait for Mike to begin this new journey as a House Manger and watch as he leads others through the same healing process that he went through. It’s amazing to see our clients come full circle and use what they learned here to help others. And at the end of the day that’s what it’s really all about – taking what we’ve gained and turning around and giving it back.

Our 12th Annual Auction Was A Success!

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Live & Silent Auctions in May. It was truly incredible and humbling to see the people in our community coming together and showing their support of our programs.

The money raised at this auction will allow us to continue helping people and restore the families and lives that have been torn apart by addiction.

We are so grateful to all of our sponsors and to the people who donated items to be auctioned off as well. We could never have pulled this off without you!