NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — A Seacoast volunteer organization has spent the past six years offering hope to more than 80 people seeking recovery from addiction and it isn't planning on backing down.
Kim Keene founded the Pelican Intervention Fund, which administers an Essex County Community Foundation fund established in 2015 to help people struggling with addiction.
The Pelican Intervention Fund will pay for a 30-day stay at a sober house after a client has completed detoxification and spent at least a month sober, Keene said.
"We work with three, nonmedically-based houses that do not allow any form of methadone or Suboxone or medically based treatment," Keene said. "These are strictly 12-step sober houses."
They are H.O.W. House in Dorchester, the Michael Dias Foundation in Springfield and Sober Sisters Recovery in Somersworth, New Hampshire.
The Pelican Intervention Fund pays for the first month in the sober house while the individual is finding a job in the community.
"The state does not pay for this, so that is what we do," Keene said. "We give that person who wants to take that route a start. The expectation is that they will also end up living in the sober house for six months while they are doing their step work."
The Pelican Intervention Fund has raised more than $350,000 since its inception in 2015 and the volunteer group has served 82 people who were referred along the way.
"The funds have come completely from the Greater Newburyport community because we don't get state funding," Keene said. "We will also help people from anywhere."
The Pelican Intervention Fund brought together roughly 100 people to march in the Yankee Homecoming Parade on Sunday.
"The support from the community was overwhelming," Keene said. "We had people pounding their chests, we had people blowing us kisses. Inevitably, everyone today has someone in their lives who has either lost their life or is presently dealing with addiction. This hits everyone."
