A roadside waving and petition signing\u00a0called Rally for\u00a0H.O.P.E. is scheduled this afternoon from 3:30pm to 5pm at the Capitol Hill Softball Field adjacent to the CNMI Governor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
This comes soon after it was learned last month that the\u00a0Hinemlu Ohala Para Enteramenti, or HOPE Recovery Center, might shut down due to budgetary constraints. One of the center\u2019s clients, Jun Santos, and his peers in recovery and other supporters are organizing the \u201cRally for\u00a0H.O.P.E.,\u201d which they made clear is not a\u00a0Substance Abuse, Addiction, and Rehabilitation Program, SAAR, sanctioned event.<\/p>\n
Santos said the center has helped him and his peers through their journey of recovery and pursuit of a sober and better life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe center is a necessity in the community. There are so many people [on] Saipan that are struggling with the disease of addiction and closing down the only residential treatment center here\u2014which can house addicts in a safe environment\u2014is going to hugely impact the community in a negative way,\u201d said Santos.<\/p>\n
Santos himself has been in recovery since November 2020 but he\u2019s had few relapses with alcohol and methamphetamines. He sought help from the center after he felt that he was going to \u201close\u201d himself again when he went through a really bad relapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I needed to try something different. I didn\u2019t feel like I was strong enough to stay away from the drugs and alcohol if I [were] surrounded by it. I felt like I would\u2019ve just given in to my addiction again,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
Santos lived in the center for seven months and completed the recovery program. \u201cIt has helped me in a great way to be able to have that residential treatment, to have that kind of environment where we feel safe and secure. We can\u2019t just walk out to get our fix and come back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said receiving residential treatment helps addicts in recovery prolong their sobriety rather than trying to stay sober on their own without the help and resources that the center provides.<\/p>\n
In addition to the rally and petition signing tomorrow, an online petition is available at\u00a0https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/saving-hope. As of press time, it has garnered 750 signatures out of an initial goal of getting 1,000 signatures in all.<\/p>\n
Along with this, supporters of the center are actually reaching out to people in person to sign a physical petition to show the importance of their cause.<\/p>\n
The deadline for the petition is on Feb. 17 and another rally for the center is scheduled for that day at a more centralized location.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Santos invites the community to come out and support the rally, sign the petition, and honk their cars when they drive by.\u00a0\u201cWe invite the whole community, from anybody who has a family member in recovery, or if you are a person in recovery, or have lost someone you know to addiction, and just want to be there to support the cause, come out and join us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also hopes the rally\u2019s close proximity to the Governor\u2019s Office will show that the community wants their voices to be heard to keep the center open.<\/p>\n
HOPE, which is locally funded under the Office of the Governor, has helped prevent about 80% of Drug Court participants from committing crimes again.
\nThe\u00a0center reopened on March 14, 2022, after a four-month long relocation.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roadside waving and petition signing\u00a0called Rally for\u00a0H.O.P.E. is scheduled this afternoon from 3:30pm to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":385096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}