Answering the call of corporate citizenship . . .
The CORE Corporate Sponsorship Program
Although the prime goal of business is to make money, consumers want to embrace and support companies and brands that take active interests in their own communities. By exercising corporate citizenship, companies can be mindful of the impact they are having in the world beyond sales transactions.
Our Need for Corporate Sponsorship
Governing agencies responding to substance abuse have spent decades searching for a quick fix – the proverbial silver bullet, or magic pill – to solve the problem. They have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into initiatives that fail to address the causes and conditions of addiction. In consequence, organizations like CORE that are committed to the successful rehabilitation of addicts and alcoholics have been mostly excluded from funding.
The Silver Bullet
Remember the War on Drugs? It began fifty years ago when drug abuse was declared to be “public enemy number one.” The strategic response was brute force, premised on the mistaken idea that coercion is key to rehabilitation. The weaknesses of this response emerged almost immediately. Increasing criminalization of drugs resulted in punishing people for mere possession of illicit substances. As happened during Prohibition, the war on drugs turned people with a personal problem into people who were a branded as a menace to society. Today, the war on drugs continues to fill our prisons to capacity and has cost an estimated $1 trillion.
The Magic Pill
Almost as soon as the war on drugs began, it became obvious that something other than criminalization was desperately needed. A disease model of substance abuse began to take hold, and the idea of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) was born. Thus, as of today the National Institute of Health’s homepage for substance abuse looks like a pharmaceuticals promotion for prescription medications. Virtually all governmental funding, tens of billions of dollars, goes into these programs, which essentially substitute one drug for another. Moreover, the focus of treatment today for those programs has shifted away from actual recovery and to the precarious ideas of maintenance and harm reduction. The crisis response to the current opioid epidemic has only exacerbated the abandonment of real recovery for too many people who desperately deserve and need it.
The Forgotten Ones
For all of their activity, current government-funded initiatives and programs have achieved little for the very people they were supposed to help: individuals who want real recovery. There are about 20 million persons in the United States, and 377,000 people here in Missouri, suffering from a substance abuse disorder. There clearly is a tremendous impact on these individuals, their families, and communities. Such individuals suffer significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home. At some point in their addiction, every addict and alcoholic wants real recovery. Most have no where to turn.
What CORE Does
At CORE, we won’t compromise. We know that incarceration and medication do not make recovery. Without identifying and addressing the reasons for addictive behavior, the sufferer simply relapses, or becomes addicted to the new substance prescribed as part of a MAT plan. Real recovery takes time, and people must have a safe place at which to do internal hard work involved in overcoming addiction.
For 25 years, CORE’s mission has been substance abuse recovery. At our centers, located in Branson and Springfield, Missouri, our clients learn to live a new lifestyle without drugs and alcohol. Our curriculum is based on the proven Common Solutions Recovery (CSR) program outlined by the 12 Steps of Alcoholic Anonymous. Our clients learn about the causes and conditions of their own substance abuse, and they are educated about its effects on their friends, families, and careers. Every client receives personal guidance through each step of recovery. It is by taking these recovery steps that a remarkable, marvelous change occurs. No longer held hostage by their addictions, our clients begin to heal physically, mentally and spiritually. They reclaim life. Clients reconcile with loved ones, find purposeful pursuits, and find worthwhile employment. Our proven program of recovery works for anyone who commits to stop using drugs and alcohol.
We Need Your Support
Our comprehensive approach to recovery has done much good, yet much more can be accomplished. For this reason, we are looking for corporate partners to help expand our services to fully respond to the needs of our region’s suffering addicts. CORE provides the physical infrastructure for our clients’ recovery journeys, consisting of two recovery centers, two transportation departments, and nineteen (19) separate living facilities that are safe havens for our clients. We are seeking to add to these facilities.
We invite you to call our Chief Executive Officer, Cary McKee, and set up an appointment to visit CORE, tour some of our facilities, and talk about how you might contribute to this great work. As a corporate sponsor, your company logo would be eligible for placement on all CORE public communications, if you choose, and you would have access to our CSR instructors. We are winning this fight, one recovery at a time. Thousands of our clients have built the foundation for newly awakened, substance-free lives at CORE. Will you help?