**** May 19th CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has given! Your generosity is amazing! After 19 days you all crushed our original campaign goal of $62,500! Another amazing donor has stepped up and created a stretch goal with another $15,000 matching commitment! This will be the most money we've ever raised for Still Waters Scholarships - I know we can do it! See below on how you can help...

- Please continue to share this page on facebook!

- Watch this great video to see the impact you have on real people: https://rb.gy/f1ttt

- Read Matthew's story of transformation below...

- Consider giving to help us reach our goal!

Thank you all so much!

- Kyle Williams, kyle_williams@cumberlandheights.org, 615-585-8625

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every dollar you give goes directly to funding the treatment of real people like Matthew! Read his story below, made possible by generous donors like you!

When I was 36 years old, after having been addicted to opiates for nearly five years and struggling with my mental health for most of my life, I was on the brink of suicide.

I was an emotional mess. I did not have a true identity and was scared to be myself. I self-medicated in the form of narcotics, Adderall, and alcohol. I justified it by thinking that the way that I used these things was normal. I had little self-discipline. I was entitled, thinking things in life would happen for me without a lot of hard work.

After I wrote an alarming post on social media, one of my friends reached out to me and invited me to Florida. That was the first glimmer of hope I had experienced in an otherwise very dark time. I know that if I had not gotten on that plane and had kept living my old life, I would not have made it much longer.

My friend convinced me there was hope and that I should check out a place in Tennessee called Still Waters. I was at my wit's end and decided to give it a shot. Because of the generosity of my family and some amazing donors, I was able to attend Still Waters. I left with only a half-pack of broken cigarettes and a couple changes of clothes.

With the generosity of incredible donors like you, as well as Still Waters work program, I was able to stay there and do my work for eight months. Over that time, I became physically, mentally, and emotionally well. There I found hope for a better life and began to honestly work the program.

Still Waters is a special place - they create a community of people in similar situations and help you all grow up together. It is run and developed by professionals who come from a recovery background. The program centers on the 12 steps and applying the principles in your life. When you're there, you fall apart and are built back up again, better than before. The community, the alums, and the brotherhood that we talk about in Still Waters is so strong.

When I left Still Waters, I stuck with the guys I was there with, and we stayed sober together. The staff at Still Waters had suggested I attend a sober living that was strictly Still Waters Alum called Simply Living. Ill be forever grateful for my experience there as both a resident and house manager. I always felt safe, welcomed, appreciated and made some of the best friends Ive ever had. They are still my closest friends today. We go out to dinner, movies, and weddings - we do all kinds of fun stuff together.

My main goals when I left and entered transitional living were to put my sobriety before anything else, repair my relationships with my family, be respectable, and earn a living. Whatever work I could get, I was going to be there every day in the morning on time, and I was going to work until the job was done. I had learned that just showing up is a huge part of my new life - showing up for my own recovery and my duties, regardless of how I feel about them.

Several years later, I was given the opportunity to come back and work in the Young Men's Program at Cumberland Heights. I wanted to be a part of something greater than me. Giving back in the program is about giving away what was given to us, so I was excited about impacting young people's lives.

The work I do there now gives me satisfaction that I have never experienced before. I help young men access the tools of recovery. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of donors who gave to make a path forward for me.

There are not enough words to express the level of gratitude that I and the other men and women who come through Still Waters on scholarships have for you. While words may fail, our appreciation is shown through our actions after we leave. We support each other and pass on what we have received.

Before coming to Still Waters, I had no hope, direction, or relationships. I did not have anything, and I thought that I was okay with that. Now, I have healthy relationships with friends and family. I have direction in my life. I have four years of sobriety. I have a community. I am not alone. I could not have done this without the support and generosity of others.

Thank you. I hope my story inspires you to give generously to help the next person like me find hope and healing at Still Waters.

Matthew H.