Before Kacey came to Hope House she had little to rejoice, but these days Kacey is full of reasons to Celebrate.
Kacey started drinking and smoking marijuana at age 13, her friends and their older siblings contributing to her habits. By the time she was a senior in high school she was missing a lot of school. Because of this she was one credit short for her diploma and was unable to walk across the stage with her classmates at the graduation ceremony. Not walking across that stage motivated Kacey enough that she spent the summer in school, and earned her High School Diploma.
Kacey went to visit a friend one day, who had relatives that smoked and dealt crack/cocaine. At the age of 18 she smoked crack for the first time, thinking that it was “not a big thing”. Kacey was gone for a week. Her family filed a missing persons report because they hadn’t heard from her.
For the following 2 years these binges were a part of reality for Kacey and her family. She often went for weeks at a time without eating or sleeping, just smoking crack. Kacey admits that she stole from her family and that it did not bother her because she thought she had to do whatever she could to get high.
During this period Kacey had her first run in with the law. She was picked up on a minor consumption charge, which was dropped by the court. After two years of this “insanity”, she was picked up for possession of cocaine. She was released on bail, and of course went back to using, until her court date. Kacey had been up for days and showed up for court half stoned, stating that she was hardly able to keep her eyes open while driving. Looking back, Kacey is horrified that she drove in that condition with her grandmother, who she loves dearly, in the car with her. Kacey was sentenced to jail, and that is where she heard about Hope House. Kacey says she wrote a letter to Hope House and on June 2006 at the age of 20 she moved into Hope House.
After eight months she completed Hope House Transitional Living Program and moved into our Post Transitional Living Program, Hanna House. Kacey lived there in her own apartment for a year, and then moved in with her finance. Kacey and her fiancé recently purchased a house. She is getting ready to move into her 1st New Home, along with her fiancé and their two beautiful dogs Lola and Max.
Kacey has been employed with the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo for 3 years now and for the past year Kacey has been “giving back” by working part time at Hope House. We are so proud of you Kacey!! We are celebrating you now!