Saturday was a great day for the men's recovery centre at 633 Winnipeg Street known as Discovery House.
For starters, it was the scene of an open house - a three-hour late afternoon affair where the community at large was invited in to meet and chat with staff and clients, check out the premises, and grab a bite to eat.
As if that wasn't cool enough, the place had arguably its most notable visitor of the day when, just after 6 p.m., Santa himself showed up to join in the fun.
And just when it seemed it couldn't get any better, someone threw a switch and the house lit up with the glow of hundreds of colourful Christmas bulbs.
Later, Jerome Abraham, executive director of overseeing organization Penticton Recovery Resource Society, sat down with us to fill in the details.
"This is the peak of our Shed the Light on Addiction campaign to help break the stigma of addiction treatment," he said. "We've invited the community down to show them the other side of recovery. That addiction is a treatable illness, and the more that we can help our clients get integrated into the community, the better off the whole community will be."
Shed the Light on Addiction is an annual deal for Discovery House, and this year the target is $29,052. According to Abraham, "That’s the subsidy cost of three treatment beds for one year in the house, so three guys who otherwise couldn't afford long-term treatment, recovery, life skills training, that sort of stuff, can now get in here and benefit from it."
And they’re getting awfully close. Abraham said they've already raised slightly more than $24,000, the majority of which has come through three high-dollar anonymous donations.
"We've had some amazing anonymous donations online this year. Out of the $24,000, $16,000 of it has come anonymously. They usually say, 'Keep up the good work, guys,' but I wish we had their emails so we could say thank you. One was $10,000 all by itself."
The campaign runs through to December 31st, and, as in other years, it offers donors a visual reward for their contributions. For every ten bucks, the guys at Discovery House add another bulb to its Christmas display. A whole string of lights costs $250.
Abraham then got a little candid. And his story is seeming proof of Discovery House's validity.
"I showed up here broken and beaten. I had a house in Kelowna, a fairly good job booking snowboard trips, and a bit of an education."
"But I was involved in the drug scene since I was 17 or 18. I really struggled for 17 years on and off, and eventually lost everything in Kelowna and was right down to living on the street."
But Abraham's Narcotics Anonymous counselor, also a volunteer with Discovery House, and "one of the last people who would even talk to me," made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He'd take him to the House.
"And when I got there, there were two guys helping me in. The really big guy said, 'This is your bed. Don't leave.' And I haven't."
After some time, he stated volunteering. Then he began working one day a week. And it's snowballed ever since.
Abraham believes the Discovery House future looks bright.
"I think we're becoming more accepted in the community," he said. "We now have more business supporters, community supporters, and we receive more grant funding. The City of Penticton gave us grant funding last year and this year, and the United Way has been giving us grants since we started."
Still, mending men in a decent live-in facility is expensive, and Discovery House needs every cent is raises. If you'd like to donate to the current campaign by buying a bulb or better yet an entire string, call Jerome Abraham directly at 250-462-1388, or reach out via the Discovery House website or Facebook page.
