WBZ Cares: Megan's House Helps To Rebuild Substance Abuse Users
BOSTON (CBS) - Each month, WBZ Cares highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.
This month, WBZ Cares is profiling Megan's House in Lowell, MA, a residential treatment home for young women, providing substance abuse treatment emphasizing individual dignity, self-respect, and empowerment.
For Tim Grover, founder of Megan's house, substance abuse touched his family personally.
"Megan's House came about as a result of my daughter [Megan] passing away as a result of a [heroin] overdose back on December 30, of 2014," he said.
Megan, who was waiting for an opening at a drug treatment program, was 26 years old.
Grover said his daughter needed help for several years, but that help was difficult to get.
"It just got harder and harder to find a bed. A treatment bed, especially when she needed help," he said. "She had been in a lot of different places and there were just no beds available and at that time."
"She had been in a lot of different places and there were just no beds available and at that time."
So, he decided to take matters into his own hands by opening his own home to help treat those suffering from the heroin epidemic.
"I had just decided to open up a treatment home for young women so that when she needed help she would always have a place to go. I had actually made an offer on this property here, which was an old school," he said. "Unfortunately, she passed, and um I actually closed on the property the day after her funeral."
In a letter to donors on its website, Grover described the emotional moment he had to come to terms with on that cold winter day in January 2015.
"As I was driving away from my attorney's office, I pulled over to the side of the road and cried. I was angry at God, angry at the system that failed my daughter and angry at the world," he said. "I was remorseful and, most of all, I was heartbroken. My baby girl was gone.
"I was remorseful and, most of all, I was heartbroken. My baby girl was gone," he wrote.
Despite the loss of his daughter, Grover moved ahead to establish Megan's House for other young women who needed help.
"In my heart of hearts, I made the decision to make a difference in her memory because the issue was so important. And I just couldn't see another parent, having to deal with the loss of a child when it didn't have to happen," he said.
Today, the former Riverside School in Lowell has been transformed into a home where each resident of Megan's House receives treatment tailored to his or her individual needs.
"They provide family therapy, they provide individual therapy, they provide life skills training weather it's opening up a checking account, or it's learning a trade or skill. So that when they leave Megan's House, they've mastered various skills so they can go out and become a productive member of the community."
For more information about "Megan's House," visit: TheMegansHouse.org or the WBZ Cares section on the CBSBoston.com during the month of August.
