The CNN Interview on Impact's Campus

Dental dopers

This is the CNN news interview that took place in our kitchen. Just click on the prompt "Dental Dopers". You will have to watch a teensy commercial first and then Kenny and Jim's interviews will be played.

Gary Silverman - the Face Behind the Fund

In 1984 a young man named Gary Silverman, while in Impact for treatment, wrote this letter to his parents Joe & Harlean:

Dear Mom & Dad,

I am learning every aspect of not only working in the kitchen, but working with other drug addicts from every walk of life, there really is a very accurate cross-section of society here. I feel comfortable here and truly have hope and strength and when I can't find it in myself, there are always people at my side to lend their hopes and strengths and support...these people are all here for the same reason, so that no one is really that different from the other, and in that way I feel part of the house and the miracle that goes on here every day...

Gary stayed on at Impact after treatment to become a caseworker, however, shortly before he would celebrate his second year clean from drugs, Gary passed away. His father was with him in the hospital just before he died. He was talking about what Impact meant to him, how it had given him the strength to stay clean and told him that the last two years of his life had been the best he could remember since he had been twelve years old. Gary asked that his parents keep a watchful eye over Impact and do what they could for us.

Joe Silverman, Gary's father, came onto the Impact Board and served faithfully for twenty two years. For the past two years he has been on the Associate Board and is a treasured advisor to Impact's Director, Jim Stillwell, most especially on the subject of financial matters. His contributions to Impact have been immeasurable and we are grateful to him for his supportive dedication to our mission.

Gary's beautiful (inside and out) mother Harlean, has been our support, right alongside Joe for all these years. What we share is a mutual love and gratitude for a program that brought so much joy and peace to Gary and so many addicts who are seeking relief from this viscious disease.

The Silverman's established a fund - The Gary Silverman Fund - which over the years has helped countless men and women get their lives jumpstarted. Whatever the need, this fund has been able to help out. Whether it's clothes for work, or teeth or glasses, possibly an emergency at home or car insurance to get to a first job - you name it - a no-interest loan or a gift from the Silverman Fund has gotten many men and women who are just beginning a new, clean life, what they need to get out there.

This fund is sustained by donations from the Silverman family and individual donors. Like you. If you want to participate, go back to our website and make a PayPal contribution, or call and ask for me (Arlene) and I will help you.

If you have seen photos of our facility, or if you've been here, you've seen the beautiful fountain up on the Eastern half of the residential facility. This was built by the Silverman Family and dedicated to Gary. When I lived upstairs (we called this section Beverly Hills), I could lie in bed at night and listen to the beautiful sound of this fountain.

Over the past 40 years Impact has been fortunate to have had men and women like the Silvermans who are as committed to helping our clients as we are, and we are very grateful for that. This partnership and others like this allows us to continue to bring the best possible treatment to the desperate men and women who come to us seeking relief for this tragic disease.

Preempted, Obviously

Well, if you tried to watch Jim and Kenny on TV today you will have seen that we were preempted by the Supreme Court Justice Hearings. Regretfully, I cannot give you any information on a reschedule.

Jim Stillwell to Be on CNN at 3PM July 15

July 15th at 3 PM go to CNN to watch Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room (if you don't have access to TV, try cnn.com) for a show about "Doctor Shopping". It will include an interview with our Executive Director Jim Stillwell and an employee Kenny Morrison on the topic related to Michael Jackson's death and his drug and doctor situation. Try watching it.

We're Forty!

In 1969 our founders got together and decided they wanted to establish a safe place for addicts to get clean. Wait a minute - WE'RE FORTY YEARS OLD!

And in so many ways we fought and beat the odds. Inexperienced, drug addicts, alcoholics, no cash, no systems in place and no programs to imitate. With only the infamous Synanon as a somewhat sinister model of what not to do, our founders began molding what today is still in the forefront of drug and alcohol treatment progams.

Flying by the seat of their pants these men and women put together a small house with a small group of men and women whose only wish was to stay clean and stay out of jail. Bringing with them their experience in Narcotics Anonymous and the spiritual and living principles they found in that program, they began a journey that has lasted forty years.

We have come a long way from the little tract house in the San Fernando Valley that was our beginning. Today we operate a beautiful 130 bed residence on nearly three acres in Pasadena, as well as several transitional living houses, two outpatient facilities, a Los Angeles Drug Court, and two locations within the Los Angeles Sheriff's facilities. We have grown more sophisticated, much more educated, certainly credentialed, but our commitment to provide the highest quality of care remains the same.

A few weeks ago we sent out a request to everyone on our mailing list for a donation of $40 for Forty Years. The response was gratifying. If you are not on our mailing list and would like to send us a birthday check, That would be very cool. You can donate by using paypal or sending to 1680 N. Fair Oaks Ave. Pasadena, CA 91103, or call us and use a credit card. We're easy.

The fact is that Impact always treated me for free. The first time I was here my mother paid for my first month of treatment and I was here for a year. The last time I was here I was a client for four months. Free. There are many men and women like me who fall through the cracks of funding. Not enough money to afford private funding, not falling into any of the profiles of the funding contracts.

That's why we need help.