Bowery Mission Opens Residential Recovery House in East Harlem
EAST HARLEM — Ten years ago, while living in Philadelphia, Darick Kennedy got drunk walked into a bookstore and tried to steal a book.
The stunt ended with him in handcuffs and three years probation. It was the start of a long journey filled with more run-ins with police and stints at halfway houses, he said.
“Throughout the next ten years I was in and out of trouble with the law,” he said. “When I finally was released from the halfway house in December 2014, I just ran wild. I got high for about two weeks.”
Today Kennedy, 41, is sober and living in East Harlem. He is one of 65 men who recently moved to a transitional living center on 315 East 115th St. He found a job as a janitor and is studying to go to HVAC school to start a new career.
The center is part of the Bowery Mission’s privately funded $12.8 million expansion into Harlem, East Harlem and the Bronx. Opening three facilities has effectively doubled their capacity, former CEO Ed Morgan said during a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.
“This is a very important occasion for us,” he said. “You are standing in front of the largest of the three.”
Continue reading
By: Gustavo Solis | June 5, 2015