WAAODA 8th Annual Rally for Recovery
Celebrating Hope
recovery is not the only one it affects. It affects their family members: children, mothers, daughters, husbands, wives. That’s why we try to get different speakers.
For instance today, we had the mother of a 19 year old alcoholic. We had a 24 year old and a 25 year old who started drinking at 12 and 13 years of age and
are now sober.”
       The moment that the addict makes the decision to go straight and be clean is a line of demarcation in their lives, a moment that they never forget. “I know
it is something they still think about,” McAlister said about people who have been sober for 30 years or more. “I think they want to tell their story and tell people
how long they have been sober. They want to let others know that they’ve been there and they can get to where they are at.”
While society may often times dismiss people who have experienced addiction as lost causes, Kate Nesheim, the executive director of WAAODA and other
advocates know that there is always hope. As she surveys the people who have come to the rally, Nesheim knows that treatment works. “Treatment is so vital and
important” Nesheim emphasized. “It’s a subject, AODA and substance abuse issues that people don’t like to talk about. It’s not a positive thing to talk about. But
the treatment is and it does work. And recovery is possible.”
       Although treatment may seem to be expensive in the short run, the consequences of not providing treatment cost society even more. “Treatment is very
cost effective “What people don’t realize is that it costs more not to give the funding for the treatment because that makes your crime go up, anything from
burglary to violent crime,” Nesheim emphasized. “It contributes to people being out on the street and homeless. It also contributes to prostitution. It is much more
cost effective to give treatment. And treatment does work.”
       But while treatment may be cost effective, the perennial budget woes of state and federal government lead elected officials to make decisions that appear
to save money in the short term, but cost much more in the long run. “Rehabilitation funding is something that is so underfunded and it really needs to change,”
Nesheim said. “It could help so many different areas and so many people. Everyone knows someone who is affected. It’s something that if we could get the
funding where it needs to be, it would really, really benefit the entire state.”
       Just looking at the smiling faces of the children at Elver Park is an affirmation that treatment works. Investing in hope is always a wise decision.
By Jonathan Gramling

     Hope is important. Whether it is a personal challenge or tragedy or the
current financial crisis on Wall Street, it is the hope that life will be better on
the other side of the challenge that allows most of us to carry on with our
lives. Yes, we can. Si se puede. Hope and belief is what compels us to go
where we need to go. And we rarely get there without at least a little help
from our friends.
     The Wisconsin Association on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (WAAODA)
has been one of those friends that have been there in support of those who
provide services to those with AODA problems since 1966. On September 20,
AFRA —Alliance for Recovery Advocates, which is a component of WAAODA
— held its eighth annual Rally for Recovery at Elver Park on Madison’s west
side. The afternoon featured food, music and children’s activities while
people commemorated their own sobriety or that of loved ones.
      Rally for Recovery, held in part to commemorate Recovery Month, is a
family event. “It’s to celebrate people recovering from substance abuse and
alcohol and other drugs,” said Catina McAlister, the AFRA coordinator.
“Families bring out their kids and tell their stories. We have speakers who talk
about their life experience and what they have been through. Some people
are still in recovery and some people have been clean for 18-20 years or
more.  We get people from all different walks of life. The person who is in