Nov 16, 2007 9:30 pm US/Eastern
Local Program Celebrates 25 Years Of Help
by Paul Burton
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
A treatment program in Roxbury is celebrating 25 years of helping people recover from substance abuse.
People there say all you need to look at is former residents for living proof of Casa Esperanza's success.
"I got to the point I miss used and abused and ended up on the street," said former resident Kristian Barriento.
He's been clean 15 months now and manages a couple of Jiffy Lubes in the area. He says Casa Esperanza "basically gave me strength again mentally to get back on my feet."
Both he and Anna Rodriguez say Casa Esperanza saved their lives after years of drug addiction and homelessness.
The Roxbury treatment program is a place for hope for many in the Latino community. There they gain skills and repair and strengthen families torn apart by addiction.
Anna says eventually she knew she belonged at Casa. She checked in when she was 38 years old, after D.S.S. took her four children. Now four years later, Anna says she is "clean and sober and a better mother to her children."
Over the past 25 years Casa Esperanza has helped thousands of Latino families overcome their addictions and become productive citizens.
Casa Esperanza's founder, Rick Quiroga says their goals are to make everyone "citizens, we want them to be tax payers, and take care of their own families."
The program not only helps people break their addictions but once they graduate they also help them find a job and provide them with affordable housing.
Boston Private Bank is a long time supporter. They help provide affordable housing.
"Its a real commitment to take people in need and help them and continue with them so they really can get back into society and be contributing members and citizens" says Boston Private Bank's Mark Thompson.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
