[Music] so my guest today is kim mccaffrey noel she made national news not in a good way in 2017 and on august 20th she sent me a wonderful email talking about how she had turned her life around and as we talked before as we started these podcasts we said we were going to do stories that had great interest in volusia county and not only is this a story about human interest this is also a story about a human spirit an endeavor in overcoming what really could be an abyss in your life so kim welcome hi how are you doing today good how are you i am doing well so we'll start off with uh talking about the situation in the email that led you to send the email okay talk about what happened in 2017 um in 2017 um like why did i get arrested or what was going on at that night that that video footage made national news well it was a friend and i he was really supposed to be driving us to lake county because it was it was my birthday and my tag was expired and i was like out of money um out of drugs so we were supposed to be going to lake county and i actually went to sleep about 10 o'clock and he just continued to drive me and my daughter around and that's when we got arrested at the store and your daughter by the way is beautiful met her outside she was eight months old at the time yes she was in the car seat yes and deputies you guys were sleeping in the in the car yeah at a convenience store if i remember yeah and the deputies came up and you guys woke up and then i think you you guys were charged with uh i was charged with felony child neglect and possession of paraphernalia for a drug bag i had in my pocket and of course dcf stepped in and and you know took my daughter into their custody so most most people don't understand what addiction is like so for the folks out there who you know don't understand and and how those folks can help you know uh through financial means with we'll get into where you work and the programs that are out there can you can you talk about what it was like i think meth you were you got your meth was your that was my latest um drug addiction though when i finally got clean um it's really hard to explain addiction you know unless you're in it like for me it was like it's like an argument in your head every day like you know like for me i'm like i know i don't want to do this anymore and i like but i couldn't stop myself sure like no matter what like no matter whether i had family support or not like your kids don't stop you from getting high like nothing except for yourself can stop you but that's what it was like towards the end when i knew like i didn't want to keep getting high but i just couldn't not get high like it was just like an argument every day how old were you would you say when you started experimenting with either alcohol or drugs i was young um i think the first time i drank alcohol i was like 13 and then a year later it started with marijuana and then it just went from there you know marijuana ecstasy then i got clean for a little while i started with opiates and i got clean and then um remember like in 2009 2010 there was like the pill mills going on yes oh yes yeah and i was going down south and getting prescriptions and i was selling it you know to make a means and then you know and then there i was doing them and so it just you know it started at a young age for me uh how did you how did getting arrested impact your life um you know when i got arrested at first of course anybody who gets arrested this man but um i thank god for that arrest all the time because that is that was the first step of me changing my life i mean when i got arrested in 2017 i signed three years probation um and then i i was released but the backlash from all over the u.s like i mean i had facebook messages i had comments you know and never watching the arrest video until you know 10 days ago it was pretty incredible that you never watched it until that point i couldn't yeah and then i just felt like even my husband was like i don't i don't think you should watch this i'm like no like i can handle it at this point back then i couldn't um but the backlash from the community and um like my family was done with me they were just over my crap after so many years and then you know dcf removing not just the eight-month-old all my kids they took all my kids um so i didn't know how to deal with that properly so i think i was out for like three days and i relapsed and then yeah i relapsed i checked into a probation the first month um failed the ua so she you know i knew they were issued a warrant and then i i absconded for like about four months so then i got rearrested and i thought to myself you know they're just they're going to reinstate me because it was just a failed ua and no no they were like offered me a year in a day in prison or to do drug court so i did drug court talk about that because i have to tell you i come into contact with a lot of folks who go through that program and they it seems that their overwhelming majority of them are able to turn their life around we'll talk about the programming um it's a really um it's a rigorous program like i mean you're not getting away with anything can you talk to talk about that because i'm asking you i have a parent who's contacted me and and they that's what they want they want their son arrested for what's occurring uh stealing and everything yeah but that's what they're asking they're going to ask for is drug courts they can explain why yeah so when you're in drug court there's four phases when you're in phase one you have four groups a week you have to attend naa or church some type of outreach and you have to provide proof that you do that you go to court once a week that lasts for a month and then you move into phase two each phase you move into it's the less groups you have so the program is an average of 10 to 12 months but when people like mess up or fail ua they have to start back to phase one i was able to finish it two days shy every year but yeah but i had my mind made up already that i was gonna do it well that that was that leads me to my next question what was there a certain point in time where you said okay this is it i i have to for the sake of my family and my children because i think in your email was was very touching uh that clearly your children played a huge role in you making this journey yeah because so when i got re-arrested um after the viral arrest i don't know you know somebody else asked me for me it was just like just like a switch in my head like there was no doubt about i was going to do it this time you know because at that point my family turned their back on me i had no family support you know my kids were you know in other people's custody and i just i was like man i'm not i'm not getting any younger you know it's like now or never that's that's what i put in my head it's like well in a later thing i just want to let you know we have a little bit in common because i get hateful emails from around the country so don't feel you know that you're kind of special because i get hateful emails when we do things all the time uh you talked about the video a little bit and and i and i had talked to my staff when it went about the email and i said uh i think you sending me the email that you sent that beautiful email and watching that video i think that was part of your recovery i don't know if i'm overstating no no i agree yeah that was it's like like i said i never watched it and then when i watched it i was like oh this is not the last time sheriff's office is going to hang here for me i'm like uh i need to give him an update and and we are so glad as you can tell when we posted it on facebook that thing just went i it did crazy yeah i thought it would be good i didn't think it would be as as well as it was received and you know we're huge supporters of stewart markman i told your story at the banquet the other night we donated 25 000 to stewart markman for their annual fundraiser i talked about you and and you were the impetus behind that uh volusia covery alliance we work very strongly with them because i don't think there's a family in america that can honestly say that addiction doesn't touch them no no i agree with that actually um we have a girl who rents the office next door she works with the volusia recovery alliance so we rent her an office and she does some outreach for us but um you know they say it takes a village to raise a child and then sometimes like for me with related to addiction sometimes it takes a community and their agencies to help save an addict and that's what happened with me between the sheriff's office the drug court program which stuart marchman's involved with that um dcf and cpc it was just like you know it was a group effort like all those people helped me save my life because and now that's what you're doing yeah that's what you're doing that's the hope that when people watch this that they will show this video to their family member or their loved one and say look at what kim went through the hell that she went through look at where she is now you can do this yeah you can do this yeah my dad called me crying last week after the the news broadcast i'm sure the first one in 2017 he was cussing me out yeah so this one he called me crying that's have that tendency to do that yeah between every crisis and every first responder is a 9-1-1 operator no two emergencies are alike and our highly trained 9-1-1 public safety telecommunications professionals use their critical thinking and decision making skills to get the right personnel on scene as a valuable member of our team you will earn a competitive salary and outstanding benefits plus the satisfaction helping others and making a difference in your community are you ready to answer the call 9-1-1 where's your emergency hi i'm savannah jane griffin i'm the chief executive officer of the neighborhood center here in west volusia and i'm wayland niece the chief operating officer of the neighborhood center of west fallucia part of our mission is feeding the hungry and so we have a food pantry here that feeds many people they come and pick up food daily we're looking for food donations so if you have any non-perishable items or produce that you'd like to come and donate we encourage you to come over we also feed individuals lunch and dinner daily here at our bridge shelter and so if you're interested in donating food to serve meals to or potentially volunteering in our food pantry and in our shelter we are always looking for volunteers another part of our mission is to prevent homelessness and to house the homeless and we offer a wide variety of resources and funding opportunities to help people stay in their homes such as rental assistance and utility assistance we have two shelters the bridge shelter and our regular shelter and then we also have over 60 units in the community in which we house over 200 residents nightly in volusia county we could use all of the support in maintaining these homes and acquiring new affordable housing so it was good you know um it's just nice after all these years to have my family back in my life because i would get clean and then i would relapse so they didn't have faith in me they like let years go by before they decided okay so a good assumption is you you're in a good spot with you and your family oh yeah right now yeah really good spot that is that is so good to hear because you know in volusia county we're averaging over 300 deaths a year from overdoses and 10 times that amount of overdoses so there are a lot of people uh in the situation that you were who for some reason they may not have it internally or whatever they just can't make that crossover that you did so i really admire what you're doing now you're working here at the neighborhood center in the land can you tell folks what goes on here and what your role is yes so um i started off working in the thrift store um now i work at the bridge shelter i started off um you know running the front desk and now i'm the lead shelter coordinator um so i oversee the other coordinators and and their operations with the clients and we only have one case manager right now so i try to assist her with case management you know just simple things if they need to apply for food stamps or go get their id or you know whatever they might need on a daily basis but um we were telling you earlier or maybe we were telling you tuesdays and thursdays um it's called mercy hour so um we let the outside homeless community come in and take showers and they get free haircuts they can go in the lunchroom and have like coffee and snacks you know and then the church groups are in there volunteering and they do prayer requests and you know prayer over people and so one i got a question for you that came i this was asked of me multiple times when you talked to kim asked her what were her secrets to sticking to her recovery number one and what advice do you give would give for others who look at you as an inspiration um for me for my recovery one of the most important things was like cutting off those old contacts with recovery they say people places and things and that's so true like i mean i have a best friend um who is now 60 days clean thank you lord um but this whole time has went by where i like i can't i can't talk to her you know i can't be around her so i just that's for me that's the biggest thing is avoiding people that i used to use with in places and how about uh second part of that question which i completely forgot because i was understanding what you're saying there what advice would you have for others who might look to you as an inspiration what would you tell them ah it's kind of a tough question um [Applause] okay there's so many things i could say like but it's like if people only get clean when they want to get clean that this is true yeah this is true yeah like they have to fight their way out nobody can do it for you like you have to want it so clearly you want it yeah you know you you know like i said in that email you spoke lovingly about your children and how much of a role they played in you making this decision but where do you where do you see yourself in five years what are you looking to do i know we talked a little bit before we went on camera um in five years i would really like uh well first i want to go into case management you know so i can like through the shelter so i can help people get back on their feet um i just i just want to do what i'm doing i just want to help people you know now that i'm up here i want to reach my hand down and lift them up i don't know if i'm allowed to pray on my own podcast but amen that's what you're saying there uh because i know i've been doing this for 35 years and your voice is so much more powerful than anything law enforcement or any judge or any prosecutor or any parent can say because you've been there yeah and when people who have been where you've been looking your eyes they know that they know the sincerity they know the passion and the commitment that you have hey i was there and if i could reach down and help you up i think that that is an incredible incred i think that's the inspiration that the answer to that question yeah anybody that walks through that door i don't care if they're homeless dirty or if they pulled up in a brand new car i treat them all the same like they're all equal to me i don't care if they need a pair of socks you know i'm hungry they miss lunch whatever they need i'm going to go get it because i've been there i think you have an incredible story to tell i think you're an incredible human being to just to fight to get to this point says so much about the character of who and what you are that it's easy to lay down when you're knocked down it's really hard to get back up and dust yourself off and climb back in the arena yeah no i don't know you're in there that's not me i'm always going to get back up you're right and that's when i said i watched that video i was like oh this is not the last that they heard from me and i am glad that you sent that email and tell you sometimes it's much trepidation i click to read it and i and i clicked it on i guess it was sunday night when i clicked on it and i and i read it and then i reread it and then i sent it out to my staff and i sent it to my public information officer and said look she's not asking for anything here she's just sending us an email let's let's post this and let's get with her and touch space with her because i think again i think your story can save somebody's life out there yeah well and and then i thank you too because when i sent the email i'm like he's not going to read it you'll be surprised every once in a while but then and then it turned into like something huge and i was like this is great yeah i wasn't expecting that and i think you know people learn more about the resources that are out there because a lot of the questions i always get from family members is i where do i go and when we don't have the answers you know this is my first time into this wonderful center and obviously we're going to show everybody at the tour of it and the incredible people that are that are working here so is there anything that you would like to tell the folks watching this before we sign off no no [Laughter] well uh this is uh sheriff chillwood i'm going to sign off with kim this is our second podcast for chit chat i hope that you find it informative and for any family that is fighting addiction please watch this this is an incredible story from an incredible woman and a great mom and and there's somebody out there we may save a life or two and that's the that's the whole impetus behind us so let us know how we're doing and we'll try to keep topics like this coming to you [Music]