MILFORD – People learned about having another recovery center in Kosciusko during Living in Transition Effectively’s Recovery Cafe grand opening Friday.
The Recovery Cafe is a community with the goal of helping members recover through Recovery Circles, meals, classes and events. The Cafe will also provide computers and WiFi access to members.
Tammy Cotton, founder and executive director of L.I.T.E, said it’s been a long time coming and “we’re finally here.”
During the grand opening, Cotton introduced several people who spoke to a group at Milford Methodist Meeting House, 210 W. Catherine St., Milford, where the recovery cafe will be located.
Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz said the mission of the prosecutor’s office is to help make and keep Kosciusko County safe. To help keep the county safe is to keep a strict upperhand on those who would do harm.
The office extends a helping hand to those people who have a drive for rehabilitation, he said. To do that is to get involved in communitywide addiction recovery programs. And Voelz said he sees that working successfully every single day. He sees livlihoods and relationships restored.

    Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz speaks at the grand opening of Living in Transition Effectively’s Recovery Cafe grand opening. Photo by Jackie Gorski, TIMES-UNION
  

Each one of the programs requires cooperation and collaboration from many different organizations, he said.
Voelz said he believes the dedication and cooperation “of all of you” helps break the cycle of addiction.
“Together, we are starting conversations, we are ending the stigma of addiction, we’re getting people involved. And we’re giving those seeking recovery real places and real choices to go for help,” Voelz said.
Voelz thanked Tammy for her continuing dedication and her work with the Recovery Cafe.
Recovery is not only possible, it happens every day, he said.
Heidi Blake, with Kosciusko CARES, talked about her program.
Part of what she does is work with Jail Chemical Addiction Program participants to help them make plans for what they will do when they get out. Recently, some JCAP participants met with state Sen. Ryan Mishler. The reason they were so excited about that meeting is that they came out of the meeting with hope. They were excited about their future, so “it was a blessing to see that,” she said.
She said some of the things that were being planned on with the JCAP participants is their recovery community and they wouldn’t be able to do that without partners like L.I.T.E. She said she’s supper happy to see what L.I.T.E. has to give to the community.
Recovering addict Tommy Streeter said before he got sober, there weren’t a lot of resources for recovery in the county. If there were, he wasn’t aware of them. He stayed down in Indianapolis for 2-1/2 years because he knew there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the area as far as recovery programs. He then decided to come back to the area and try to help with some of the programs that were here.
He said the Recovery Cafe is a resource for people who really need the help and need a community to help recover. With some other programs like Kosciusko Coalition on Drug Education, half of the people at the table might be law enforcement and those who need help may not be comfortable with that. The Recovery Cafe meets people where they’re at.
Drugs is a community problem and there needs to be a community solution, Streeter said.
Tammy said, “We say, even if we just save one, it’s worth it.”
Chris Cotton, executive director of L.I.T.E. Recovery Cafe, said if people can’t leave this community, the Recovery Cafe wants to make sure they have solid friendships and have solid support without leaving the area.
A ribbon-cutting was done by the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce, which was followed by tours of L.I.T.E. Recovery Cafe.
L.I.T.E. Recovery Cafe at the Milford Methodist Meeting House will be open 4-8 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.