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REGULAR MEETING February 25, 2019
<br /> Brad Black, 54410 29th Street, South Bend, IN, stated, I owe my life to Choices,honestly. I would
<br /> not be here right now if it was not for Choices. I've been struggling since I was a teenager with
<br /> opiates. I've been through this enough to know that if we do not give recovering addicts the help
<br /> they need and a place to go, if they are not ready to go home, they need help. I've been through it.
<br /> I didn't get the help I needed when I completed a program and it led me here. I'm grateful to be
<br /> here today. Sober living houses are more than just giving a place to live. It helps them and teaches
<br /> them lessons. It reintegrates them into society. That is crucial for people like me because I didn't
<br /> have that, and I thank God every day for being where I am because now I get the chance to help
<br /> other people. With that, if I can help people with this sober living house, it is worth it at the end of
<br /> the day. Thank you.
<br /> Sheila Cegielski, 52022 Woodsedge Drive, Granger, IN, stated, Thank you for your time and
<br /> consideration on the matter before you. I'm a real estate agent representing the buyer. I know you
<br /> may be thinking of course she wants to talk because she has a vested interest in the sale of this
<br /> property. I assure you, that is not the case. I really dislike speaking in public. I am here to tell you
<br /> two (2) short stories that will explain why I believe this change deserves to be made. Sixty (60)
<br /> plus years ago, I was born the last child of ten (10) siblings. With a family that big, the odds of
<br /> them having an addiction problem were against us. Two (2) of my brothers were the unlucky
<br /> winners. One(1)was fortunate enough to love his job so much that he chose it over the addiction.
<br /> The other, at the end of last month, celebrated his first (1St) year clean after fighting addiction for
<br /> fifty (50) years, due to the help of a wonderful addiction center in Florida that is very similar to
<br /> Choices Recovery. Both were professionals in their field. We had the same parents but different
<br /> results. My one (1) brother has a great retirement. Two (2)homes, two (2) Harleys and he gets to
<br /> be retired and happy. He needed to find his own way out of addiction and he actually married an
<br /> addiction counselor. The other one (1) lives in an apartment on social security only. He is near
<br /> death and we've almost lost him three (3) times that we know of. Life is all about choices, but we
<br /> still love them both. The next story is about someone I've known since the day she was born. She
<br /> works in a very busy emergency room in a big city. One (1) evening, the ER was at full capacity,
<br /> and one (1) of the regulars, as she referred to him, came in off the streets smelling of alcohol. She
<br /> told him she would put him in a room and was going to let him warm up and sleep it off while she
<br /> attended to patients who had more serious conditions. One(1) of her attending nurses took it upon
<br /> herself to get the bloodwork ordered for this man, simply, because it was protocol for someone to
<br /> come in with the type of pain he was having. When the results came back, she came to the doctor
<br /> and read them to her since she was busy with another patient. Her words,to me,were said between
<br /> tears. Sheila, if it wasn't for my nurse that night, that man might have died under my watch. She
<br /> felt so awful because she had judged him on the basis of his appearance and smell. He could have
<br /> died but, instead,he had open heart surgery. She is a very hardworking, compassionate and caring
<br /> person who was having a difficult night, but she learned a lesson that evening that would last her
<br /> a lifetime. Don't judge people by their looks. This man was someone's son and probably
<br /> someone's dad. Just because he made a poor choice at some time in his life doesn't mean he is
<br /> worth less than you or me. Why would you not want to help people who seek help to make their
<br /> lives better? I don't understand that. They could be your child or husband, or father or mother,
<br /> your aunt, uncle, sister or your brother. Tonight, you hold in your hands the vote to make many
<br /> people's lives better instead of bitter. The choice is yours. It is possible to hate addiction without
<br /> hating people.
<br /> Betty Keranen, 431 West Lawrence, Mishawaka, IN, stated, I'm here in favor of this sober living
<br /> house. I personally didn't wake up, fifteen (15) years ago, and say, I want to destroy my life. I
<br /> joined the United States Marine Corps and I was in a very severe and traumatic ATV accident. I
<br /> shattered my entire face, broke my back and was in a coma. I suffered a severe brain injury. It
<br /> ended up being a blessing. It intensified my alcoholism and made it very incredibly dangerous for
<br /> me to drink. When I came home after being relieved of my duty in the military, I was surrounded
<br /> by,thankfully,an incredibly supportive family.Not everyone has that option. So,my family helped
<br /> get me into recovery shortly after I came home. Not everybody has that option. In the over six (6)
<br /> years I've been in recovery in this area, I've seen multiple go back out because they needed a local
<br /> in-patient facility to be at and it was not here for them. So, as a member of the veteran community,
<br /> I see at the VA facility, nine (9) times out of ten (10), they have a drinking or a drug addiction
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