When Gilda Payton first met La Shaun Rickman, Founder/CEO of Recovery Café Chicago, she was heartbroken and navigating trauma. “My brother was killed in front of me,” she said. But after meeting Mrs. Rickman and joining the community, “…I was able to get to the next stage. It let me know that I’m not the […]
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In each of the Cafés that make up the Recovery Café Network we seek to acknowledge the various holidays and traditions of our Members. This week we are celebrating Christmas. In our Seattle Cafés we celebrate Christmas by decorating a freshly-cut tree with lights and ornaments, serving delicious meals, giving away warm, winter coats, gloves, […]
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Longmont, Colorado, a high-elevation town with cold winters, was in need of a refuge: a space where people who experienced trauma, homelessness, substance use disorder, and other mental health challenges could gather and heal together. With Lisa Searchinger heading up the organization, Recovery Café Longmont was born, opening in 2019 and creating a warm haven […]
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Orting Valley is nestled between two big hills in Pierce County, Washington, tucked away from major interstates, with just about 8,000 people calling it home. “There’s no bus lines. There’s no apartment buildings,” said Anthony, the Administrative Resource Specialist for Recovery Café Orting Valley. “Mostly families and houses.” He notes that even the “pass-through” population […]
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Brandon Orr, Reclaiming Lives/Recovery Café Medford Manager, has that knack for talking. He is straightforward, laughs a lot, and in everything he says, he communicates compassion. “Brandon is very outspoken and compelling and people like to be around him,” said Executive Director of RC Medford, Stephanie Mendenhall. From left: Kristy Laschober, Stephanie Mendenhall, and […]
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Mike was one of the first members to join Recovery Café Lowell after opening our doors in January of this year. He is also the very first member raised into a Peer leadership role. I have to genuinely focus to recall his demeanor back when he first joined RCL because today he seems like a […]
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I write this from Tallahassee, Florida where I am staying with family. Recently, they asked me what the Recovery Café Network looks for when a group expresses interest in bringing a Recovery Café to their community. While I hope that means that perhaps one may be coming to Tallahassee, I thought I would share my […]
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June 1, 2020 Dear Community, We are living in painful and unprecedented times. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery— on top of all the brutal murders of African Americans throughout our nation’s history— have further laid bare the enduring, systemic racism that is alive and well in the US. Meanwhile, […]
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Community meetings and partnerships have been a blessing for Recovery Café Orting Valley. After a community meeting, we were approached and asked to apply for funds to help promote the 2020 Census and partner with two other non-profits in our town. The requirements were simple, fill out the application, agree to attend three meetings, and, […]
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The RCN team has been hard at work curating a list of resources just for you! We hope you find this list useful as you navigate this current moment. We will continue to keep track of relevant resources as they make their way to our desks and inboxes, and will continue to share them! Stimulus […]
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