At Knoxville nonprofit Hand UP for Women, providing classes and mentoring for women who want to break free from addiction and abuse is a vehicle toward a larger goal: saving lives.
Brooke Rogers said the faith-based nonprofit saved her life after she spent two years on the streets of Knoxville, skipping meals to pay for her drug addiction until she got down to 98 pounds. On her last day on the streets, it was 18 degrees. She had gone stretches of up to 17 days without eating.
When she realized she needed to get help or she would die, Rogers came to the nonprofit for a second time. Her mother had taken her to see Eva Pierce, executive director of Hand UP for Women, years before, but she wasn’t ready to change her life then.
When she left rehab, Rogers was ready to put in the work to leave her old life behind. She applied and was accepted into the nonprofit’s course of life management and career development classes taught by local professionals who volunteer their time.
“Other than the classes, the support was the biggest thing for me. When I came home from treatment, I didn’t have anybody,” Rogers said. “This became my support and my family. I could not have survived those first three years without Hand UP for Women. This program saved my life.”