- Lighthouse Recovery Center is one of the biggest drug recovery centers in the region. They host their biggest fundraiser of the year on Friday, the Dose of Hope Campaign.
- Director, Christma Rusch told me the event and center is about building a community. She says there were 14 drug related deaths in Manitowoc last year and Lighthouse wants to work to decrease that number.
- Sarah Becker is recovering from addiction and volunteers at the center. She says Friday night is not only about fund raising for the center, but is about family and community.
One of the biggest centers for drug recovery in the region is right here in Manitowoc. The Lighthouse Recovery Center is hosting its "Dose of Hope" event Friday evening helping those struggling with addiction.
"It gives me the ability to be a better version of myself,” says Sarah Becker.
She’s recovering from addiction and began her journey with Lighthouse in April.
"It's always a group effort and it's taken a lot of hard work," says Becker. "A lot of self-reflection, and just working through those bad days."
Lighthouse Recovery Director, Christma Rusch says she suffered from addiction herself and knows what the struggle is like.
"The best thing we can do is create a team for everybody who walks through that door," Rusch said.
Lighthouse says there were 14 drug related deaths in Manitowoc this past year. But, it's hoping to help the numbers go down.
"It has to do with a lot of education and teaching people, our community that it is a chronic health disorder," said Rusch.
Friday's event is to not only raise money for the center, which saw a whopping 492 new recovering users last year alone, but it's also to bring awareness to the struggle and end any stigma around reaching out for help.
"Our focus is to give a face and a voice to those in recovery from substance abuse disorder," says Rusch.
An event that means a lot to Sarah as her family will be there supporting her through her journey.
"For my family that means they get a daughter, a sister, a niece back in their lives again," Becker said. "They get to see light come back into our eyes that we had lost for a very, very long time."
Christma tells me the Recover Lighthouse Center will be expanding once again very soon, opening a new building in Manitowoc.
