Author archive for Gina Haines

From May 16-19th this year, a group of 7 supports of Recovery Beyond will embark on a climb of Mount Rainier. These individuals answered a call and challenge put forth by our founder, Mark Ursino over the past several months to dedicate themselves to this climb, and to raising money to support our efforts.

A big thank you to Abi Brewer, Camiya Brown, Christopher Poulos, Nate Lanting, Scott Brown, Amelia Kaiser, and Becky Vinson for stepping up to this challenge. Their efforts so far have resulted in over 100 individual donors for Recovery Beyond. The funds raised help support our efforts to reach and help even more recovery climbers and to grow our program.

Please consider making a contribution today to one of these Fundraiser Climbers and learn more about what motivates them on their campaigns. And beyond a donation, please tell your friends and family about this great and worthy cause. It’s our community of compassion that makes the difference every day and we are thankful for your spirit and action.

Here are some of the comments we’ve received from donors to the Fundraising Climb.

“Our daughter Amelia Kaiser volunteers with this amazing program. The stories of her time with Recovery Beyond have inspired us to support this wonderful group of people! We pray for all involved and encourage you to keep up the good work of changing lives for the better! God bless you!!!” – Elaine Klein

Visit Amelia’s Fundraising Page

“Recovery tools and creating a pathway to feeedom is important and crucial for the success of people. Thank you Christopher for making this fundraiser and bringing hope into the community.” – Carolina Landa

Visit Christopher’s Fundraising Page

“Scott Brown is someone who encourages all the program climbers. A joy to be around – glad to help!” – Price Taylor

Visit Scott’s Fundraising Page

“Go get it girl!” – Cheryl Ann

Visit Camiya’s Fundraising Page

“If anyone deserves to stand on that summit, YOU do!! It felt wrong for me to get to the summit last year while you didn’t. I am so proud of your tenacity and courage and I’m more than happy to help donate for your fund-raising climb in 2019. Godspeed, friend!” – Michele Arnold

Visit Abi’s Fundraising Page

 

Visit Matthew’s Fundraising Page

If you are interested in joining them, it may not be too late, but time is running out. Email Gina Haines at [email protected] for more information. Let’s celebrate their awesome commitment to a healthy lifestyle and supporting others in achieving it.

Charity isn’t a word you hear too often anymore. It carries the connotation of a hand-out; in the extreme, the concept of charity can infantilize those receiving it and make those giving it seem arrogant and aloof.

This shouldn’t be the case. Selfless giving and accepting gifts without shame are hallmarks of our humanity. There are people in our very own communities who truly need charitable giving now. Individuals and families who have no food, no home, and no means to meet their basic needs of survival.

Without charity, we would be literally leaving these people out in the cold.

It’s true, however, that this type of charity—giving that meets people’s basic and immediate needs—does not lead to long-term solutions for problems like homelessness and the addictions that often lie at its roots.

Charity is important and essential, and it’s just the beginning.

Community Investment for Lasting Relief, Growth, and Healing

Once basic needs are met, people can focus on making lifelong changes for more rewarding and community-driven lives. Resources to guide and promote these long-term changes are lacking, though.

That’s where Recovery Beyond is making a difference.

Through our current programs, Climbing Out and Team Mission, we provide individuals already succeeding in addiction recovery programs with an additional and lasting opportunity for growth.

In Climbing Out, ten months of team-building and intense physical and mental training culminates in a five-day hike to the summit of Mt. Rainier—an achievement that resonates for the rest of anyone’s life. Team Mission (our companion program at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission) achieves the same results through ongoing guidance in the sport of long-distance running, an activity that is more accessible yet demands equal commitment, endurance, and effort.

Reaching the peak and making it through that last mile are memorable rewards, but it’s the trek that makes it all worthwhile. It’s the new skills and perspectives climbers and runners build along the way that leads to new lives and new futures.

Homelessness and the substance dependency that often precedes and is exacerbated by it is a complex social and personal problem. Recovery Beyond addresses the personal aspects, empowering participants with better understandings of themselves and the extent of their capabilities.

Where charity leaves off, they learn to take the next steps, confident of the ground underneath their feet.

Ending Addiction, One Step At a Time

There are hundreds of thousands of homeless people and families in the United States, and more than twenty thousand in Washington State. More than 60{637c4c527fde39f83a380e19107d2ba88ad72607f37ccf8f8b7edeff1c20688c} of these people also suffer from substance dependency. Ending addiction is key to ending homelessness, and to mitigating an array of problems and behaviors detrimental to the community at large.

No single program can do it all. No single approach will be the key to success.

But the difficulty is no excuse, and we can do better.

If you’re interested in learning more about Recovery Beyond, making a contribution or even joining our Fundraising Climb to experience the life-changing Rainier summit for yourself, please click here to learn more.

Let’s be clear: every single dollar given to help another human being is priceless. Whenever you give, whatever you give, know that it’s appreciated and going to good use.

Unfortunately, the disproportionate number of donations given in a holiday season can make budgeting and planning difficult for many organizations. They may be pressured or even required to use the resources they have on hand to serve as many as possible, as quickly as possible, and this can leave them coming up short the rest of the year.

Giving Tuesday doesn’t solve that problem, but by choosing the right organizations to give to, you can.

This year, we ask that you consider donating to organizations that are less crisis-oriented, and more focused on long-term changes that will ease the burden on temporary shelters and food banks.

The Climbing Out program provides a unique opportunity to people who are currently struggling with addiction-related homelessness by successfully recovering from addiction. Those participating in our program rebuild their strength, resolve, and commitment to themselves, building more resilient connections with their community along the way.

This program doesn’t provide shelter or meals. It provides the means for self-sufficiency, healing, and growth, so our climbers may never experience another homeless Thanksgiving again.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t make planned donations to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other organizations this time of year. Please do, if you can! Our organization currently partners with two local homeless shelters, Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission and The Tacoma Rescue Mission; both of us are grateful for your support.

We also hope you’ll consider the long-term impacts of your giving, and balance the urgent needs of today with the unsolved problems of tomorrow. Learn more about our business case and Investment Drive and make this Giving Tuesday last the entire year.

Click here to learn more about the Climbing Out Program.

As a result of the opioid crisis and addiction problems plaguing our society, homelessness continues to be on the rise. Every night, more than half-a-million people in the United States are in search of somewhere to sleep.

When they’re lucky, they find a shelter, or doorway, or a bench, or a patch of grass or asphalt. The unlucky spend their nights wandering, or under arrest, or in any number of dangerous circumstances.

And every morning, there are a few who don’t wake up.

Homelessness is a life-and-death issue and addiction plays a large part in the problem. Many of our nation’s homeless who also suffer from a drug addiction have that much more to overcome and are that much more at risk. While there are many programs and shelters doing terrific work to help our homeless population, they don’t have space or the resources to help everyone.

And few programs have proven successful in helping to lift people out of their addictions and as a result, homelessness permanently and productively. Why? Because they aren’t equipped to treat the root causes like addiction, and because there are too many lives that need saving today to make adequate plans for tomorrow.

We need to change the paradigm. We need better long-term solutions for homelessness, for addiction, and for giving everyone the help and the tools for self-help they need.

Climb Out

Of the 540,000+ homeless people in the US, more than 21,000 of them are here in Washington State. Well over half of Washington’s homeless citizens are located in the Seattle-Tacoma area—one of the most affluent and high-tech regions in the country.

In cities with many “haves,” the plight of the “have-nots” becomes even harder to witness.

But homelessness isn’t simply a matter of economic hardship. For many, it is tied to lives of abuse, neglect, drug addiction, and other mental health issues. For these people, finding their way to a happy and productive life means undergoing a more intense and profound healing process than finding a new place to call home.

They need a way to take back control, and to build the skills and strengths they need to move up and beyond the positions, they’ve landed in.

Since 2011, our organization has been working with two local shelters to give recovering addicts a life-changing experience—one that allows them to truly climb out of homelessness. Each year, individuals demonstrating success in a broader recovery program receive nearly 10 months of physical and mental training in preparation for a summit of Mt. Rainier. The five-day trek is one that few people from any walk of life attempt, and marks a significant triumph for those with a background of drug dependency and shelter insecurity.

This year, we’re holding a Fundraising Climb to raise funds to help serve more people. Eight donors will be joining us on a climb that follows a route our program participants may take, right up to the peak of Mt. Rainier. These donors can’t get their alone, though—they need your help, too, because they’re each raising funds to sponsor a minimum of two recovery climbers in 2019.

Please consider making a contribution to one of our donor climbers. Together, we can take steps to end homelessness once and for all, one summit at a time.

To donate, or to learn more about our organization and our Fundraising Climb, please click here.

Want to donate to a participant’s climb? Visit https://donate.recoverybp.org, search for the climber you want to support and make your donation.