Reality House brings holidays to kids with parents in recovery

Addiction affects families, and parents in recovery need all the help they can get. That is why Reality House opened its doors to the community last week for children whose parents are in rehabilitation.

Xerox and chapters of the Delta Phi Epsilon at St. Joseph’s College and Adelphi University donated gifts for young children and the DuBose Law firm provided gift cards for older kids. Costco provided food for the event.

Two years ago, Reality House opened in Astoria as a 30-bed facility for male veterans suffering from addiction and homelessness. As time went on, staff members like Lorraine Moore started to realize that it’s not enough to be a building in a community.

“You have to be of the community,” Moore said.

Clinical Supervisor Yvette Taylor said that the mission of Reality House is to help veterans, as well as any other members of the community rise above their addictions.

“We help people move from early recovery to recovery management with group counseling sessions, anger management classes, and parenting skills workshops,” Taylor said.

Moore said that veterans are especially vulnerable because they enter the workforce with experiences that don’t often translate well into civilian society.

“These are trained diligent men and all of the sudden they are unable to find some comfort in the place that they left,” Moore said. “Being able to find housing takes so long, and though they have many credentials, they can’t even find a job.”

Kelly Michelle Williams, veteran’s liaison at Reality House and a veteran of the Army herself, said that when she came on board with the organization she knew that there were many veterans in need, but she didn’t know just how strong that need is.

“When I was in the Army, the first thing I was taught that no one gets left behind and it was important,” Williams said. “There should be no military person male or female out in the cold looking for a place to find their next meal and a place to live.”

Williams said that she was happy to see the smiles on the children’s faces at the Reality House holiday party, but that there was a bittersweet edge to that joy. Her wish was that every family would be able to provide food, shelter, and holiday cheer for their own children.

“There’s no reason a child should go hungry and a family in a country as rich as ours,” she said.