Gundersen Health System donates $25,000 to Adult and Teen Challenge

Gripped by addiction and often reeling from other traumatic experiences, they — one way or another — find their way to the in-patient drug and alcohol recovery facility based in La Crosse. There, counselors use a holistic approach to address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each woman, hoping to one day help them break the bonds of addiction.

Because of its life-saving work and care for struggling women who have nowhere else to go, Gundersen Health System recently donated $25,000 to Adult and Teen Challenge — money that will be used, in part, to fund 24/7 residential care that has, since November 2019, helped more than 70 women piece their lives back together and give them a chance they thought had long passed them by.

It’s an important gift, as the nonprofit is funded entirely through donations, which allows women to seek treatment without financial obligation.

“It’s life or death for them. They’ve exhausted all their resources,” said Kevin Schaler, executive director of Adult and Teen Challenge. “That’s part of our goal, to never turn away any individual seeking help due to a lack of funding.”

‘I was broken’

For Cassidy Yates and Nicole, there was no hope any longer. Their lives were empty, they had no purpose and there was nowhere safe for them to turn. Be it living with others or living on the street, they, essentially, had nothing.

The La Crosse-area women were ushered to their lowest point in life because of drugs — and the trauma a lifestyle swallowed by them inflicts. Yates first discovered them in high school, touching off an addiction that would last 15 years.

“When I came to Teen Challenge, I was broken,” Yates said. “In my 20s, I lost everything. I lost my friends, I lost my family and I lost all my money.”

Nicole’s trajectory was similar, yet all her own. She endured sexual assault by a family member when she was four years old, and by second grade, struggled with deep depression. She began to believe she was worthless, bad and not worth anyone’s time, and by the time she was 13, she was using drugs daily. She was kicked out of her home after high school, and from there came incidents of domestic abuse and incarceration.

“Addiction doesn’t just happen for any reason,” said 25-year-old Nicole, who was addicted for 12 years before finding Adult and Teen Challenge, and whose last name is withheld to protect her privacy. “Trauma, abuse and mental health issues create a hole in your soul that constantly needs to be filled with something. It’s the theme in almost every addiction story.”

Through the Christian-based organization, the women learned about God and that despite everything that had happened to them, their lives had meaning, and their purpose was still ahead of them.

“I learned that my life wasn’t worthless,” Cassidy said. “There was purpose in what I was going through and that the addiction side of it will come out the other end, and there will be good because of it.”

Because of that belief and a burgeoning interest in the chemistry of the brain, Cassidy enrolled at Western Technical College, improved her GPA, and is now headed to Bethel University and plans to study neuroscience and minor in psychology “so I can help other people who also have gone through addiction.”

Nicole said she came to Adult and Teen Challenge a broken and battered woman, and that’s where a God she didn’t even believe in met her. She surrendered her life to God and has never looked back.

“The peace, love, joy and energy I wake up with daily is so new and exciting to me,” she said. “I refuse to go back to my mess. I see God’s purpose for my pain.”

Working hand in hand

The Adult and Teen Challenge fits well with Gundersen’s mission of enriching every life they touch, said Dr. Marilu Bintz, the medical director of the Office of Population Health at Gundersen. The organization has a profound effect on the people it serves and the health of the community.

“They are making a difference in the futures of so, so many people,” Dr. Bintz said. “This is a donation to continue to foster and nurture those things.”

It’s money well gifted, with stories like Cassidy and Nicole’s.

“These ladies have so much courage, and hearing their stories, it doesn’t just touch your heart, it touches your whole being,” Dr. Bintz said.