This past weekend I had the good fortune to attend the Unite To Face Addiction event in Washington DC. InTheRooms was one of the sponsors and we shared the Wellness Tent with our good friends Tommy Rosen, Nikki Myers and Jameson Monroe. We’ve worked hard on this event for 4 months. We’ve sent emails, newsletter articles, and live video meetings interviewing the promoters. InTheRooms members provided one of the largest number of signups to the event! A week before the concert, however, Hurricane Joaquin surfaced, and threatened the cancellation of the entire show! On the day of the concert, the temperatures dipped into the 50’s with steady brisk winds and dark gray skies throughout the day.
It was so amazing to see it all come together, but the best part of this event for me, was to meet you, our members! We got to meet new friends and ITR contributors, Kyczy Hawk, Durga Leela and Dr. Jamie Marich. We also got to spend time with our old friends, Dan Griffin, Patty Powers and Anna David. All of them are huge names in the Recovery community, and all have been so supportive of InTheRooms. We also would like to thank our dear friends, Judd Brazier and Dr Barry Reiman of Satori Waters Treatment Center for sponsoring our space in the Wellness Tent. We’re blessed to have people like these in our lives.
Unite to Face Addiction gave us the incredible opportunity to meet our members face to face. Some of them we’ve “chatted with” every day for 7 years but we never got to look them in the eye, much less give them a hug! People would walk into the tent and say “my member name is so and so” It’s so great to finally meet you guys, come give me a HUG! We had many members come up and thank us for being there in their darkest hours. We even had one member tell us that the “burning desire” button probably was responsible for saving her life!
The concert was awesome, but truly the best part of the weekend for me, was seeing longtime members like NickyO, Jenniferf, Artistgirl, BrownEyesKat, and FranktheMc face to face. These are members who have been with us on the site for years, but we’ve never actually met before. NickyO, who is also the Editor of our new I Love Recovery Cafe Magazine, traveled from IRELAND to be with us! Talk about faith and dedication! It’s funny, so many people who came up and told us how grateful they were for the site…when the truth is, we’d be nothing without you guys! Many thanks go out to our volunteers for all of your help last weekend
When RT and I first started InTheRooms, we never envisioned it being like this. Although the live video meetings were in our original plans, after awhile, we dropped the idea because it was too difficult technically to pull off. Then, around 4 years ago, we came across our tech partner, Tokbox. They had a platform that we were able to integrate with, and the rest is history! Live video meetings are a Recovery game changer! There’s no excuse ever, for not being able to get to a meeting!
This site is so much bigger than RT and I ever imagined. InTheRooms has connected people that probably would never have met before! The best part, is that we’re still in our infancy…there’s so much more for us to do together. So it’s been 7 years, a lifetime in the Internet age, but we’re not going anywhere. We are in the middle of a fantastic new re-design that you guys are going to love! We’re constantly getting suggestions from our members, and believe me, we listen! We don’t have the money that Facebook has – but guess what – Facebook doesn’t have the love that InTheRooms has! Thanks again for your love and support. We are deeply humbled to serve. Let’s make year 8 our best yet, one day at a time!
3 Comments
This was a fabulous event – bringing all of us from different paths and foci (you will like that word) to embrace our community of healing and recovery. I am so grateful to ITR – you reach out to everyone, no matter what our circumstances or our “hair day”. We can be with our sisters and brothers in recovery. Your photos are a delight and your dedication to this mission are inspiring. You can reverse those adjectives and it will still be the truth. THANK YOU and HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
I am another who is very grateful for this site. So glad you all had such a great time.
What was I thinking? I missed this wonderful opportunity to be surrounded by the giants of the recovery world. I am remiss. I am eternally grateful for this site which truly saved my life and, therefore, saved my loved one’s sanity. Yes, I concur that being in nature connects me to my Higher Power. I strive and usually achieve hours in nature on a daily basis. I have so much gratitude to ITR and the people I have met as a result. Thank you and please keep up this great work you are doing. I need ITR.