LYNN — The Recovery Exchange, a long-term peer recovery center on the corner of Exchange Street and Spring Street, celebrated its first anniversary Thursday.
There was a party at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park as members of the exchange enjoyed cake, danced, and participated in raffles.
Program Director Kim Patterson said the center has grown from 61 to 98 members since it first opened.
“We’ve accomplished a lot in the past year as far as getting our name out there and familiarizing ourself with the community,” she said.
Community Engagement Specialist Mark McCarthy said the center has made a lot of connections over the past year, such as with Eliot Community Health Services, an addiction-treatment and mental-health services provider; the Police Department; and local methadone clinics.
He added that a project the exchange’s members have taken up is helping assemble bags of hygiene products and bringing them to My Brother’s Table, a soup kitchen in the city, and to areas with homeless encampments.
McCarthy said members will add pamphlets with information about the Recovery Exchange to the bags to encourage people to seek help through the center. The center has an on-site recovery coach who can help people find addiction-treatment services.
“We just try to support people that are unhoused by giving them things they might need, and in turn will also let them know about our center and how we can support them,” McCarthy said.
Patterson said the members have made the center their own. Members can volunteer for a $300 to $400 stipend to work at the front desk and help maintain the center. She said they are technically assigned tasks on Friday, but they have gotten to the point where they require little direction.
“Literally every Friday I come in and they just all know what’s assigned and what needs to get done. And by the end of Friday, it smells so good and beautiful to me,” Patterson said. “It shows the level of pride that they take in how they maintain the cleanliness. So I really feel like they know that this is a safe place.”
Mayor Jared Nicholson presented the center with a citation from his office.
“I’m glad that we’re here celebrating, because this is a hugely important issue for this community to provide these opportunities for recovery,” he said. “And it’s also important that we celebrate those and do our part in reducing the stigma that can exist and saying that we’re here for one another.”
City Councilor-at-Large Nicole McClain presented a citation to the center on behalf of the City Council.
“The resources and services that the Recovery Center provides are so critical to our community,” she said. “We see people in need every day, and to have something that’s open during the day where people can come and feel safe and feel loved and feel welcome is so important.”
Trish McCarthy, a member of the Recovery Exchange, said she never expected she would end up in Lynn, as she had heard many negative things about the city, but is now coming up on a year of being in recovery since moving there.
“There’s a lot of recovery in Lynn and now that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
Member Merrell Denton said the center “changed his life.”
He said that on the anniversary of the Recovery Exchange’s opening, he is also celebrating a year of his own sobriety.
Denton said he had tried several other programs, but he always felt a disconnect.
“Here, it’s like a family, a small family,” he said. “This place gives me what I need to be myself.”
Blake Rickerson said he has been in recovery for 21 years. He said as a member of the Recovery Exchange, he has opened up to a lot of people in the Lynn area. He added that he performs a significant amount of outreach for the center.
“For me, it’s my way of giving back,” he said. “That I’m able to be there for someone.”
Patterson said for the next year, the exchange’s biggest goal is to continue doing community outreach and fighting the negative stigma that is tied to addiction.
“Addiction isn’t a choice and suffering isn’t a choice, so we hope to do more with the community to change the face of addiction,” Patterson said.
