My oldest son, Steve Jr., was consumed

by heroin addiction. He had gone to

different rehabs and they kind of worked

for a little while and when he had a a

serious serious relapse of people that

we knew introduced us to Hope House and

that's how that's how we came here. I

made a decision

that uh you know I bring my son uh to a

homeless shelter. The most difficult

decision I've ever made in my life bar

none. What father would do that to his

son. I felt like I was abandoning him

when he needed me most. But at the same

time, it was a moment of clarity in my

in my heart and in my mind that what we

were doing was not working. I started to

cry when I thought, what am I going to,

you know, tell his mom when I get home?

But as it turns out,

as it as the most traumatic decision I

ever made in my life was probably one of

the best decisions I made in my in my

life because I came to the realization

that I was not the right person to help

him. Okay. And

we were not the right people.

We were not the right person. When we

first heard about Hope House was really

I was on a retreat and one of the women

that I was with her father was very

involved and when she mentioned Hope

House that word hope

it it was that was my lightning bolt

that really just set me I I just felt

that this was right and it I knew it was

going to be hard to get Stephen in

there. I was just so grateful that he

was willing and that they accepted him

into this program. It was a

transformation for our whole family

because there was hope. And I think that

is the key for every family that is

dealing with addiction because it's

it's consumes the whole family from the

youngest to the oldest to your in-laws,

your your relatives. It just consumes.

your neighbors are affected by this

disease.

The support that he received, the

support that we were able to receive

was incredible. It's it's a an

incredible place to be. Is it easy?

Absolutely not.

We we had to travel 4550 minutes to get

here any given, you know, time. Uh we

tried to come here on weekends on the

for mass. Mass was just such a gathering

of such great hope and an inspiration. I

I never walked out of here feeling

I I always walked out of here uplifted

and hopeful. And I will stress to anyone

this is the most wonderful place for

your son or daughter. Well, your son,

but there are places for daughters is

Hope House.

This place is miraculous. Can be

miraculous.

But there's a lot of work to do. It's

not just you don't just sign up and in

18 months everything is fine. No,

there's a tremendous amount of work. And

when I came here, I had one son. I knew

nobody. And now I have 60 sons here.

Today, I mean, we are blessed with seven

grandchildren. Our children are happy.

They're productive.

And I I have to give a lot of credit to

Hope House because I think if things

would have gone differently for Stephen.

I don't know how much of us would be

here today.

Stephen

and that's that's a reality. I I you

know we were this we were this close to

losing Steven

to

huge tragedy is that people are just so

ashamed of addiction. They suffer in

silence.

And they suffer. Huge tragedy is that

people are just so ashamed of addiction.

They suffer in silence.

And they suffer in silence.

And we know that because

we did it for a while.

Prior to Hope House.

Now we Anybody can ask us. Oh, and there

they are. Huge tragedy is that people

are just so ashamed of addiction.

They suffer in silence.

And they suffer in silence.

And we know that because

we did it for a while

prior to Hope House.

Now, anybody can ask us. Up and there

they are. Offer in silence.

And we know that because

we did it for a while

prior to Hope House.

Now anybody can ask us.