A Community Day at Kiwanis Park in Brainerd for People Battling Addiction

On Wednesday at Brainerd’s Kiwanis Park, Kyros Peer Recovery Specialists, clients from Burlington Recovery Homes, and local community members united for a park clean-up event. Following the clean-up, there was a celebratory cookout that showed how community support is essential for people in recovery from substance use disorder.

“Days like today, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” said attendee Matthew Bohnenkamp.

That was the overwhelming feeling at the park. This community day showed that people struggling with addiction do not have to fight their battle alone.

“You know, they say take it day by day in recovery. And there’s a lot of time you’re spending times in, you know, and going into meetings and support meetings and to treatment. And you’re going into the recovery homes. There’s a lot of work to be done there,” said certified peer recovery specialist Zoe Roberts. “And a lot of times the guys and girls, they don’t get a chance to get out and have just some regular fun. You know, and that’s one of the things I’m goal-driven towards when I work with people I work with, is like, I like to find sober fun things to get out and do, and the fact that Burlington House and Kyros have come together to sponsor this is great.”

The goal of organizations like Kyros and Burlington Recovery Homes is to improve the lives of those in recovery. Reaching out to help someone battling addiction to get them clean not only helps the individual, but the community as a whole.

“And it’s helping with housing, it’s helping with mental health, getting everybody to their services,” stated certified peer recovery specialist Nicholas Peterson. “Crime’s going down, you can look at the statistics. Crime is going down because recovery is going up. So, I mean, it’s helping in every single area.”

Addiction is a lifelong battle. Many people who attended the event are in recovery themselves. What the event ultimately provided was proof that you do not need to fight your battles alone.

“All of us coming together, you know, it feels like a family reunion,” said attendee Tyler Theien. “It feels good, you know, not just exchanging stories, but getting to know other people that are in recovery, you know, finding a support base to go to somebody that, you know, ‘I want to drink. I want to smoke up,’ or whatever the D.O.C. [drug of choice] is, so it is very important for a recovery thing like this.”

“It’s that extra thing, like a god, you know, that extra thing to believe in,” added Bohnenkamp. “And sometimes that’s all you need, because it’s really easy to fall back in old things by yourself.”

According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is run by the US Department of Health and Human Services, 48.7 million people aged 12 or older had a substance use disorder.