Sweet Sixteen
The ceremony commemorating the 16th graduate of the Megan’s House program, which took place on December 16th, turned into a sweet celebration.
In front of a room packed with family, staff and residents, a young woman named Stephanie recounted a battle with drugs and addiction that began at the age of twelve.
“Before Megan’s House, I was living a life that put me in dark places I never thought I’d be in,” said the latest graduate. “Even when I was around family, I wasn’t really there mentally or physically.”
Eventually, that journey took her away from home and away from the East Coast, before realizing she had hit bottom and was facing a choice; “to live or die.”
Stephanie chose life, returned home and found Megan’s House, though she didn’t know what quite what to expect moving into a home full of girls. That uncertainty went away with the discovery of another family to count on.
“I’m grateful for all the girls and what I learned,” she told those in attendance. “I never laughed a real laugh before I got here. I have become accountable, dependable and a responsible woman with self-dignity.”
As Stephanie’s mother expressed gratitude and of meeting “the best people when you’re coming back up” from the depths, her father spoke of a desire to “scream from the rooftop” about his daughter’s re-emergence.
“Drugs took you away from me and left a hole in my heart,” he said through tears. “And now it’s been filled by you again. It’s a miracle. You’re a miracle.”
There are now sixteen “miracles” to brag about, made possible by Megan’s House and all the support that makes success stories such as Stephanie’s possible.