Fifty women don ceremonial robes for 2008-09 'Options' graduation

Bonnie Love (pictured with daughter
Amerion) is one of the 50 young
mothers celebrating their freedom from
addiction at the Volunteers of America Options for Recovery Residential Treatment Program graduation.

"Yes, I love being clean and sober." That is the message Bonnie Love will share with her fellow 2008-09 graduates Oct. 7, when Options for Recovery Residential Treatment Center for Women with Children celebrates with a special ceremony.

Fifty women will don the traditional blue robes for a processional with friends and family in attendance. Guest speakers will include Love, as well as Renée Zito, director of the the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

"I am very grateful for Option for Recovery," said Love, whose alcohol abuse resulted in Child Protective Services taking custody of her daughter Amerion. "(At Options), I learned that I have to be honest, open minded and willing. I finally found the courage and confidence to stay clean. I received strength from God and his angels that gave me good support."

Through the support she received at Options for Recovery, Love was able to regain custody of Amerion on Sept. 17.

"I met a wonder team of professionals," said Love. (Read Love's speech to her fellow graduates by clicking here.)

Currently, Love resides with Amerion at Volunteers of America's Options for Recovery Transitional Housing Program and attends an NCADD outpatient treatment program.

HomeAid and Shea Homes dedicate new facilities at 'Options'

Top: Shea Homes' Ray Ferrarini and HomeAid
Sacramento chair Kevin Carson cut the ceremonial
ribbon at the entrance of one of the four new
bathrooms dedicated June 10, 2009.

No matter whether you call it a washroom, powder room, restroom, water closet, lavatory or loo – a bathroom is trés important.

With  a current client roster of 25 women and seven children (plus staff), the need for up-to-date and fully functional bathrooms at Options for Recovery is absolutely essential.

Thanks to longtime benefactor HomeAid Sacramento, and "Builder Captain" Shea Homes, Options for Recovery now has four brand-new restroom/shower facilities for clients, staff and guests – a very-welcome upgrade that Volunteers of America celebrated with a June 10, 2009, dedication ceremony.

Volunteers of America honored HomeAid Sacramento and Shea Homes at the afternoon event, and were joined by officials from both companies to thank those contractors who participated in the project, including Above & Beyond Home Inspections, Beutler Corporation, Bill Whitley Painting & Drywall, LMI, Sherman-Loehr Custom Tile Works, Synthetic Pros, Titan Workforce and WilMor & Sons Plumbing & Construction.

Also on hand to celebrate the dedication, were Options for Recovery clients and Volunteers of America Board members Judy McGarry, Greg Grant and Rick Wylie, who was also present to represent Beutler.

To see more photos from the dedication event, click here.

Sixty-six women celebrate freedom from addiction

Riley Mitchell, pictured with daughter Allison, is one of the more than 60
young women who successfully completed the Volunteers of America Options for Recovery Residential Treatment Program in 2008.

Sixty-six women celebrated freedom from life-threatening addictions Oct. 29 as they donned robes and joined with family and friends to mark their graduation from Volunteers of America’s Options for Recovery Residential Treatment Program.

“Graduation from this program is a very special time for these women and their families because it is a time for them to reflect on the challenges they have overcome and the brighter future that lies ahead for them and their children,” said Amani Sawires, vice president and chief operating officer for Volunteers of America Greater Sacramento & Northern Nevada.

Among the speakers, including Volunteers of America President and CEO Leo McFarland and Sacramento County Health and Human Services' Elizabeth Contreras, was Riley Mitchell, an Options graduate now living with her daughter at Mather Community Campus.

Mitchell, an All-American high school athlete, had good grades, a supportive and loving family and what seemed to be a limitless future.

As for many freshmen, the rush of freedom came too fast for Mitchell, and weekend partying soon became a daily ritual that began a long, uncontrolled spiral into addiction.

“I lied about my using for a long time,” said Mitchell during her address to the more than 100 friends, family and fellow graduates. “I tried to hide it from my family, friends and roommate, co-workers and fellow students. I denied my drug use to others as well as to myself. Then it became too hard to hide.”

Unable to maintain her grades, she found work, but eventually lost her job as well. Broke and homeless, she ran from all those who cared about her.

“Yet in the midst of my pain and despair, the insanity of my disease told me if I just stayed high I’d feel better,” she said.

Eventually, an unplanned pregnancy forced her to reexamine her life and finally seek help.

“My moment of truth came in the hospital after giving birth to my first child, a beautiful baby girl. She was born pos-tox – positive for methamphetamines in her fragile little system.”

In an effort to keep her newborn baby and reclaim the promise she had always shown, Mitchell embraced the opportunity to come to Volunteers of America and Options for Recovery, where she could get better while still parenting her daughter Allison.

Upon her successful completion of the residential treatment phase of the program, Mitchell took the next step and enrolled in Options’ transitional housing component. From there, she went to MCC.

“I currently attend job-search workshops daily. I have a wonderful support group. I attend church on a regular basis. My family is back in my life. My daughter is happy and healthy. And I am clean and sober. What more could I ask for?”

Read Riley Mitchell's complete speech