The Lakes Recovery

A Call to the Ones Who Notice

I hope this reaches you with some joy this Holiday season. My name is Jordan. My fiancé, Amy and I recently purchased a large seventeen-bedroom home in Brainerd, Minnesota that we are updating to provide housing for women seeking a sober, safe, supportive place to live. We have plans to add additional houses for men, and mothers and their children in need of safe, long-term supportive housing. This dream-like idea began about ten years ago between my brother and me. And the idea has snowballed into a reality after years of extensive research, phone meetings, interviews, waiting, and downright experience.

I’m writing this tonight trusting that the people who were meant to, will hear this with their hearts, minds, and yes, your donations - to help us develop better housing solutions for those in need of safe and sober living. By all accounts, the opioid epidemic keeps spiraling further out of control - faster than communities have learned to deal with it. Nonetheless, the stakes are real, and people that need help are dying. Every five minutes in America, to be exact. Whether or not you see it or think about it - we have been fighting this opioid epidemic on a scale of human suffering that’s impossible to quantify. We can put a dollar amount on it though. The current estimated economic cost of substance abuse disorder in the United States was approximately $3.73 trillion in 2020. It’s becoming so widespread that current stats (and common sense) indicate that anyone reading this, is either an addict-alcoholic in some capacity or knows someone who battles with addiction of some sort. This isn’t a unique or new story by any means, but it still hits home, doesn’t it? Sober homes like ours, run by people who care, are generally in short supply. People, women, in particular, are finding it harder and harder to find a safe, supportive place to recover and get back on their feet.

At The Lakes Recovery, we know that addiction/alcoholism is scientifically verified and widely accepted as a disease and not a moral failing. Addicts aren’t bad people, we just need to ask for help when we’re ready to stop. We all have our opinions on the matter and this call for help probably isn’t for anyone that believes addicts-alcoholics choose to suffer willingly. This was not my or anyone in my family’s experience. I will do my best to share some of my experience, strength, and hope with you. I’ll share this because I want you to understand the sometimes irrational but always incredibly motivating need my family has for starting a venture like this. Mainly because I’m not ashamed of who I am. And to let anyone reading this understand that staying clean and sober isn’t just a possibility. It can be your, a loved one, or a stranger's reality. I’ve been to countless inpatient treatments and even more outpatient programs. Years of my life were spent trying to heal a void inside that I couldn’t put a finger on. My fiancé is also no stranger to the frightening routines we addicts and alcoholics can find ourselves imprisoned in. I survived 15 years of IV drug addiction. My heart has stopped 2 times. I’ve lost everything I’ve worked for, so many times, that at one point I gave up trying completely. Addiction has stolen such big and important pieces of my life and who I was. I’ve seen enough of my friends’ lives come to an end. Always dying the same way, desperate, and alone.

The blessed day came when I could sense my end getting closer. I had seen and experienced death. I’ve thought about life’s greatest mystery my whole life, but this feeling was more of an assurance that rattled its way into my bones. I was finally desperate enough to be free of it. Free of living or free of dying. I just never wanted to feel that way ever again. I broke down completely. Breaking down and not knowing what to do, I called my dad, who has always answered my calls, no matter how far out in the world I was. I always knew his voice was only seconds away. Somehow it helped. Shortly after that call, my brother Taylor came to visit me unexpectedly. He found my lifeless body on my apartment floor. To this day, I’m not sure how he kept me alive, but he did. He brought me into Fairview Riverside detox in Minneapolis the next day. As the fog started to lift, I started to feel the weight of a lifetime of bad decisions, trauma, and self-inflicted damage I couldn’t help at the time. The weight of knowing the hurt I caused my family, my best friends, and the women in my life - some of them I was with for years. I felt the surrender you hear about in the rooms of AA, and I just thought “finally.” I gave in to group therapy, and I took it seriously for the first time. I finally took accountability and jumped blindly into an unknown future, but I did not care. I was finally ready to listen.

As I am typing this almost 6 years later, I’m looking over at the love of my life, Amy. My light in dark places. My first reason. My support. Eleven years we’ve known each other. She has that “new mother” glow. At this moment, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. She has suffered her own trials with drugs and alcohol and has overcome insane medical odds that you would not believe. I’m thinking about where she was and where she is now - and I see angels among us. Winter is here in a big way and so is our newborn son, Chase. He’s sleeping quietly to my left near the fire. He’s pure, innocent, and blameless, aside from needing a diaper change. Our four-year-old Goldendoodle, Luna (who is more of a person than a dog) licks his forehead and he smiles.

Through all that darkness, we four have each other now and I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such comfort. We both realize the example we’d like to set for our son and the boundaries we need to establish. We are a family. One big one. Taylor, my brother, and his beautiful family. Kit and Terry, my wonderful parents. Mimi, one of my favorite people ever, has just celebrated 17 years of sobriety, and I will someday soon be lucky to call her my mother-in-law. Without her support, none of this would have happened. Big Dave, my to-be father-in-law, would do absolutely anything to protect his family. He’s a tough one but inside he’s all love. These homes are being built by our family and we are putting our love and experiences into all we do.

This is a new chapter for us as well as Brainerd and the Central Lakes Area. We want to be the shining light at the top of the mountain. We want to continue opening safe and comfortable homes in the area. Homes for people like us. We will need your help to do this the right way. We need support across the board –

Financial – for renovations and furniture and supplies

Donations – furniture, clothes for the residents

Time – deep cleaning, painting

Prayers and good wishes

Thank you again for reading this far. It means you care about the cause. Please donate what you can to The Lakes Recovery! Stop by and say hi sometime! We’re also on all those social media apps the kids are crazy about these days. So please, check us out. And know that we love you for being you.

Please share this with your friends and family. Anything to help the women who were brave enough to get sober and start their recovery journey. 

Kindest Regards from The Lakes Recovery Family,

Jordan, Amy, Baby Chase, and Luna Doggy