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The Closing Down of Summer
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A few years ago I fell in love with the short stories of the writer, Alistair McCleod. One of his most powerful is “The Closing Down of Summer.” I used to ask Terry to read it to me while lying on the dock during our last days in the summer at our beloved camp on Fourth Lake. It is a tale told of a group of shaft miners, spending their last day in the sunlit dunes on Cape Breton Island before taking on their long night drive off toward their dark and dangerous labors in the mines. There is, I think for all of us, this sense of the closing down of summer—of breathing in those last few breezes of summer’s languid air, sensing the cant of sun shift lower, and, yes, of feeling ourselves gird a bit as we turn into the challenges ahead.
Addiction knows no season. We all know it. Its relentless shadowing affords none of the highs and lows—those sinusoidal curves—that mark the lives of those of us who are free from this scourge. It is the pull—the drag—of displacement where the variable flavors of everydayness become glazed through a glass of implacable distancing into Oblivion—the grit and gravel of real-life giving way to the droning mono-tone cycle of panicked need and the short-lived wash of relief.
Our work is to afford persons caught up in its ineluctable pull a pathway to escape from the maelstrom of addiction—an opportunity to return to the seasons.
It is to afford them a pathway into just plain living: all of it. No promise of joy-filled wonders and life-sublime—rather, a return to normalcy with the strength to experience all its variations and variabilities. It is to afford them the power to, once again, climb down out of the dunes and strap on a toolbelt.
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!
TO
ALEX AND NICK
Our Board member, Alex Punch, delivered their son
Robert Nicholas Punch
on August 29, 2019, at Crouse Hospital. He weighed in at a happy and healthy 9.4 pounds. Mother, new son, father, and sibling are all doing well!
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CONGRATULATIONS, JUSTIN,
for
THREE YEARS OF SOBRIETY!!!
(In case you ever wonder what R2RCNY is about please "see below.")
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UPCOMING EVENTS:
(
Check Your Calendars!)
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- ONONDAGA CYCLING CLUB CHARITY RIDE: R2RCNY will be the event's "Chosen Charity"
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2019
- 8:00a.m.
- FROM CARPENTER'S BROOK (MARCELLUS) TO RUDY'S (OSWEGO) 50 MILE RIDE
- CONTACT DARLENE
- R2RCNY'S THIRD FAMILY RECOVERY PROGRAM
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2019
- 6:30p.m.-8:30p.m.
- CENTER OF GRACE WELLNESS CENTER, 8219 MARKET PLACE (Building #10), MANLIUS, NY
- SHOW MAP
- TICKETS BY EVENTBRITE
- CONTACT DARLENE
- SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS
- CELESTE WELLS MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
- 9:00a.m.
- STONE CREEK GOLD CLUB, 229 State Route 104A, Oswego, NY
- SHOW MAP
- NEXT BOARD MEETING
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2019
- 5:00p.m.
- CNYFUND MARSELLUS ROOM
- SETTING THE STAGE
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2019, 6:30p.m.-10:00p.m.
- RED HOUSE ARTS CENTER, 400 S. Salina St., Syracuse, NY
- CONTACT SUE
- R2RCNY'S SECOND ANNUAL BENEFIT CONCERT
- NOVEMBER 22, 2019
- MAY MEMORIAL UNITARIAN CHURCH, 3800 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY
- DETAILS FORTHCOMING
- CONTACT TERRY OR ROB
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HEADS UP, PLEASE!
Important Notice
ON
SETTING THE STAGE
- PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A CRITICALLY IMPORTANT EVENT FOR OUR ORGANIZATION! EACH OF US NEEDS TO DO ALL WE CAN TO:
- SELL TICKETS
- PROCURE SPONSORS
- LOCATE FOOD VENDORS
- IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY ASPECT OF THIS EVENT, PLEASE CONTACT
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DON'T FORGET!!
OUR NEXT VOLUNTEER MEETING
OCTOBER 9, 2019, 6:30p.m.
FLEET FEET
PLEASE COME!
Colleen tells me that our last meeting, on August 14, was a marked success. Once again, Justin Endy came on board and delivered another heartfelt and insightful presentation.
(THANK YOU SO MUCH, JUSTIN!!!)
We had a pretty solid turn-out, including some new volunteers.
Colleen asks that everyone please place the following dates in their calendars. These are the next set of scheduled Volunteer Meetings.
October 9
November 12
December 11
January 14
February 22
March 10
- We need volunteers to staff "water stations" at the Onondaga Race for Charity and to help out on the BBQ that follows. It is such an honor to be chosen as the charity recipient and we are most grateful to Alex for spearheading this possibility. Is anyone interested in starting up our own "team entry"?
- And remember, please! We ALWAYS need new volunteers. One of the ways people can support R2RCNY is to bring new people on board! Any friends or family you can think of??
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NOTICES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
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- Volunteer Navigators
- We are starting a new program to better support people who come to R2RCNY for help as well as our alumni. Volunteer navigators are volunteers who have experience with addiction in their family, and have proven to be people of integrity and compassion. They are Ed Gabriel, Anne Glenny, Laurie Glather, Melissa Weigelt, and Caroline Desocio. These navigators will help people find help locally, walk qualified ones through the application process for R2RCNY, and continue in relationship with recipients and their families throughout their treatment time and afterwards. We welcome these important members to the R2RCNY team!
- Navigator training is scheduled for October 14th, 7:00p.m.-8:30p.m. in Group room C at Jamesville-Dewitt Community Library. This will include lectures on healthy boundaries, confidentiality, and medicated assisted treatment options by two of our Candidate Selection Board members, Maria Sweeney and Theresa Baxter. We will also have some time to share experiences thus far as navigators and to problem-solve.
- Mike Tomushunas, our intern from SUNY Oswego, has begun his term. He volunteered for us this summer but is now officially on the job.
WELCOME ABOARD, MIKE!
- Montana Malfitano completed her summer internship and has returned to school.
THANK YOU, MONTANA!!!
- Family Recovery Program #3: September 5th at Center of Grace. We downsized the program to fit only the essential information into a two hour block, and switched to an evening during the week. We hope that these changes make the program more convenient and result in larger attendance.
- SoberSyracuse.com
- Ed Gabriel is spearheading a new website for the community that will provide information about sober events, sober housing, treatment options, and more. This website will be the “go to” spot for anyone who wants recovery. Currently we are in the planning stages, but hope to have it up and running before the end of the year. (Our thanks to Ed on this!!)
Anyone who has information about resources that we might want to include is encouraged to send an email to Darlene at
[email protected]
.
- We are pleased to report that our funding efforts through our Facebook page have been remarkably successful. People have used all sorts of reasons for setting up funding events on our page and we are most grateful! Perhaps you too might wish to set up a birthday celebration or some other event as a reason to fundraise on our behalf!
- Everyone is encouraged to sign on to their Amazon accounts using AMAZON SMILE. If you have not done so, it is so easy to do and an easy way to support the cause!
- It is impossible to overstate the funding needs we face--both immediate and long-term. We are SORRY to be continually knocking on people's doors and appreciate that it is often the same folks who are always being asked. As you read through this newsletter PLEASE give a special thought to how you might be able to step up and help in our efforts. We are so grateful to so many for so much and yet the need grows with each moment of our success!
- Again, our most enthusiastic welcome to our interns--Montana and Mike! We are so very grateful for having them with us and look forward to their contributions to our work going forward.
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- The Board did not meet during the month of August.
- The next meeting of the Board is on September 17, 2019, at 5:00p.m. in the Marsellus Room of CNYFund.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
BARB, TRACIE, TIM, DARLENE, ED
for
OUR FIRST ANNUAL GARAGE SALE!
WHAT A SUCCESS!!
Thanks to everyone who donated items and those who donated their time and energies at the sale.
We raised $2247.48!!!
Our gratitudes also go out to the First Baptist Church of Manlius
and
the wonderful folks from the church who donated such wonderful bake goods!
This event took days to put together with an incredible amount of hefting, sorting, labeling, selling, and then passing on the "stuff" that didn't sell. Everyone involved worked so very hard!!
THANK YOU, ALL!!!
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Living in Syracuse, working full-time
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Celebrating nine months of sobriety this month
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Celebrating nine-months of sobriety this month--featured speaker at our forthcoming event,
Setting the Stage
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Still working full-time in home restoration
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Living in Syracuse-working on her recovery
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Began cosmetology school and works part-time as a waiter
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Completing rehab near Austin
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Michael P:
M
idway through initial rehab
(No picture yet!)
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GoFundMe campaign (Don't forget!)
Now it's even easier to donate to help save lives. Just click on the Go Fund Me words below. Be sure to share the link with all your friends and contacts! Our goal is to raise $25,000, enough to pay for 90 days of
treatment, 90 days of sober living, and 90 days of sober coaching, plus airfare, prescriptions, etc. for each person we are fortunate enough to send down to treatment. That's six months of care, after which recipients are working and self-supporting. It is an amazing amount of money but so very worth it!
"One Life at a Time"!
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Donate Your Bottles & Cans
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Be sure to remember to drop off your bags of deposit bottles/cans (with Road2RecoveryCNY written on the side) at:
F-M Returnables at 202 West Seneca Street in Manlius.
315-682-4830
or
Central City Bottle Redemption, 224 Chapel Drive, Syracuse (Fairmount), NY 13219
Every dollar helps us send people to lifesaving treatment!
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