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Recovery in the News
In fundraiser, women help addicts walk toward recovery
Lisa Black
Chicago Tribune
May 9, 2008
Carrie Panos and Debra Bobo will walk to raise money in May, but instead of cancer or Alzheimer's, they will help fight another deadly disease: drug and alcohol addiction.
Both women are graduates of Nicasa's substance abuse program in Lake County. They are eager to return the favor of sobriety and celebrate their health.
"Society does not look at addiction as a disease," said Panos, 39, of Gurnee, who has been knocking on doors, seeking sponsors.
Nicasa, a social service agency based in Round Lake, will move its third annual "Walk for Recovery" to downtown Waukegan this year in an effort to reach others in need, organizers said. The 2-mile walk will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Roosevelt Park. Last year, the walk took place at a Lake County forest preserve, which provided a lovely setting but was invisible to the wider public, said one organizer, Lake County Board member Mary Ross Cunningham (D-Waukegan).
"We're trying to gain our neighborhood back again," said Cunningham, adding that she was widowed at 23 and raised four children in Waukegan public housing. "The low-income, less fortunate people live here. We have single mothers here. We said, 'Let's do it right in the neighborhood.' "
With government budgets tightening during difficult economic times, Nicasa is one of many agencies forced to find creative new ways to raise money. Another Lake County agency, PADS Crisis Services Inc., which helps the homeless, also will hold a fundraising walk at 1 p.m. May 18 at the Ft. Sheridan Forest Preserve in Highland Park.
Nicasa, whose 2006 budget was $5.5 million, hopes to raise $10,000 to $15,000 from the walk, Cunningham said.
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune