~Farewell to Glacier Center...Bartender ~

Today Glacier Center for Families closes it's doors. Such a sad day for us that started it and those that have worked here and those that have been helped over the past 7 years. Glacier Center for Families was founded by myself and my goodest friend, Christina Ryan. In 2006, we both moved on from working for a different agency and decided that we would forge ahead together and delve into working with people that were finding themselves in the midst of 'forced sobriety'. Most of the people that came through the doors were living lives that were out of control and unmanageable....and they were parents. Our mission was "Supporting families in crisis by providing Parenting Education & Substance Abuse Accountability in a safe, dignified environment.”

We started the agency with $700 between us, getting donated furniture and computers and getting training to be certified to provide testing. And we tested so many people. We collected more than 15,000 specimens over the years. From urine samples, to hair tests, to breathalzyer events and to sweat patches. Over the years, the team members changed. Christina moved on to bigger and better things, but always supported our little community service. Nikki stepped in and was the heart and soul of the ship when I got the call to work for Intermountain. My husband and all my children, at some point, laid hands on doing something for Glacier Center - from cleaning the office, to painting walls, to submitting the billing, to doing the daily testing and going into homes with social workers and the police for emergency testing.

During this time we fought thru many drug trends. From the days of much meth in the Valley - to the days of too many pills going around - to the days of EVERYONE having a medical marijuana card - and now back to the days of much meth and adding a side of heroin...all this, walking in to be tested in bodies that were never meant to experience these drugs. And not it isn't just adults - but also young children caught in the cross fire of a drug war that wages behind ugly doors and in shaded areas that people don't look too closely into.

Glacier Center for Families was blessed by God many times by the generosity of many people and was a blessing to many vulnerable, broken people. What I'm most grateful for is the success stories that came out of these past 7 years. The mom that was deathly sick from using meth, lost custody of her daughter and then worked so hard to regain her life, sobriety, child and found God again. The man that got lost in the world of drugs, alcohol, crime and used our 'blueprint' to rebuild his life and family and livelihood to be a law-abiding businessman, husband and father. Glacier Center for Families was a little agency that provided specific services to a specific population of people for a specific time. Now it's time to move on.

The song profiled on here is 'Bartender' by Rehab. This was our signature song. This guy and his wife walked through our doors everyday. They were off the hook, disorganized, vulnerable, confused, running from the law, blaming everyone else, lovable, infuriating, witty and wanting to undo some bad stuff from their past. Love this song.

I've been listening to alot of the Stones recently. Funny how so many of their song titles fit our days at Glacier Center: From a parent walking in saying its 'The Last Time' they will use , to coming in the next day, still high and telling us 'It's All Over Now', to the next time coming in high yelling at us saying 'Get Off Of My Cloud'. Then soon comes the '19th Nervous Breakdown' and us saying that 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' - with them barking back but 'I Can't Get No Satisfaction' from living a drug free life. To them finally surrending that their life is out of control and they realize that they have been a 'Beast Of Burden' to their families and the legal system and they have 'Shattered' so many hearts and dreams they begin to work to live a 'Respectable' life. I think the Stones did a lot of drugs to come up with all the song titles they did.

So closes this chapter for me and Glacier Center for Families. In the end - all I have done is for God's Glory. All my time, energy, effort was for Him anyway and the rest is just the earthly benefit for this season. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31