In 1992, Kelly and Yola entered the VOA Oregon Men’s and Women’s Residential Centers. Both came in with two different outlooks. Kelly had been to treatment before and in-and-out of penitentiaries. “My home was a five-tiered E block for decades,” shares Kelly. As a self-identified criminal addict, he would do whatever it took to get money to pay for his addiction. But once he got to the Men’s Residential Center (MRC), “it was a time in my life where I was ready,” says Kelly. “I didn’t like who I was and who I had become.”
Meanwhile, at the Women’s Residential Center (WRC) Yola entered treatment without thinking she needed to be there. “I never knew I had a problem,” says Yola. “I tried to figure out every way I could to get out of it.” Looking back at how her life was going before the WRC, “there were a lot of times that rather than pay my bills my electricity got shut off because I had drugs to buy. It didn’t matter that I had two kids living with me. They went by the wayside.”
At each center, residents have certain requirements while there. They need to get a sponsor, find a job, and work the steps in recovery. For Yola’s journey this meant getting her GED at 38 years living. This part of the program was held at the MRC. And this is how she met Kelly.
Several years after graduating from the centers, Kelly and Yola were given an opportunity to purchase a 10-unit complex and begin their journey in real estate. Over the years they both maintained the buildings by learning repair and contracting skills including electricity, plumbing, and adding in the sheetrock.
They would end up owning nine properties before they retired. They even have a home they built in Mexico. “There is opportunity all around. You just have to be able to see it and take the risk,” shares Kelly. “We have had to take a lot of risk to get where we are. But usually if you do the work, the risk will eventually evaporate.”
Now after 31 years clean and having retired, Kelly and Yola continue to travel the world enjoying every opportunity they can. They have worked hard to build their life together in recovery. Part of this life they have built has been giving back to the community. By helping out with Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, planning fundraising events, visiting penitentiaries, and being sponsors and counselors for individuals struggling with substance use, both know it is important to support their community. “We believe in giving back to something that has given to us.”
For Kelly and Yola, this new life all started at the MRC and WRC. “VOA Oregon guided me in the direction I needed to go, to really believe that there might have been a problem,” says Yola. “If I hadn’t been at WRC for six months, I don’t know that I would be clean today.” For Kelly, VOA Oregon gave him “enough room to believe in them and then myself. They gave me hope.”
