VARC LOOKING FOR HELP TO SAVE YOUNG ADDICTS

A group looking to start a treatment centre for drug and alcohol dependent
youth and their families is canvassing the Tri-Cities for support.

"We want to see what kind of interest is out there," said Hedy Davidson, a
volunteer with the newly-formed Vancouver Adolescent Recovery Centre
Society (VARC), which is looking to establish a centre modeled after one in
Calgary that has helped more than 200 young addicts and their families over
the last 10 years.

VARC is holding a meeting next Wednesday, Nov. 6 in the theatre at
Centennial secondary school, 570 Poirier St., at 7:30 p.m. to let people
know about the program and possibly attract new board members and volunteers.

The group wants to open a centre in the Lower Mainland in the next two
years but needs money. The Tri-City area is being eyed as a possible
location because it's distant from the Downtown Eastside and has light
industrially-zoned land that is affordable. "We want to make sure any
centre is far away from the 'poison'," drug pushers and their like who prey
on young victims, said Davidson. A similar program in Calgary is located in
an industrial area but young participants are placed in supportive homes.
The Alberta model requires all members of the family to participate,
requiring B.C. families to temporarily relocate to Calgary for a year or
longer until the young addict is sober and living a productive life.

About 10 per cent of families who take part in the Calgary adolescent
recovery centre are from B.C. but more could take part if there was a
centre in B.C., Davidson said. Though she has no children of her own, she
said she was inspired to join VARC's board of directors after seeing the
change the program brought to the lives of some friends. She also visited
the Calgary centre and witnessed first-hand the despair, commitment and
renewal experienced by recovering addicts and their families.

"It changed my life," she said.

VARC is run out of donated office space off United Boulevard in Coquitlam.
Members of the board include Diane Sowden, a local mom who started an
advocacy group called Children of the Street Society, and Lower Mainland
business people. The group has a charitable tax number and will be seeking
ideas and partnerships for fundraising events.

The Alberta program gets only a small stipend from the Alberta government,
with remaining funds coming from charity events and a $125-a-day rate paid
by families.

Davidson said she hopes upcoming documentaries planned for Global TV and
CBC's Nature of Things will shed more light on the program and encourage
more people to get involved.

"We want to tell people who we are and this is what we'd like to do,"
Davidson said.

For more information, call VARC at 604-464-3736; for more about the Alberta
program, visit www.aarc.ab.ca