ERICA
CENTER TABLE, Catering with a Purpose
Food Service Specialist
Brighton Recovery Center for Women Alumni
I first walked into Brighton Recovery Center for Women (BRC) on March 29, 2019, and my life has done a complete change for the better since that day. Today, I am a good mom, a good daughter, I’m a sponsor, I’m a good coworker, and I’m an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. On March 1, I celebrated two years of sobriety! I love myself today and I’m confident in myself, the work I do, and the person I am. My family and friends can depend on me. I’m honest, I’m dependable, and I am so overly grateful for how amazing my life is today and the good person I have become because of BRC.
To go from being a resident at BRC working to overcome addiction, to completing BRC and then being hired as the Food Service Specialist at CENTER TABLE, Catering with a Purpose, in March of 2020 is the most heartwarming and accomplished feeling I have ever felt in my life! I feel like now no matter what if I put my mind and hard work into it, I can accomplish any goal in my life that I work for. I am extremely grateful to work for the house that made me the better person I am today.
If I could tell the “me” who walked into BRC for the first time, it would be, stop crying. Just be willing and hardworking, and this place will teach you how to be the happiest you have ever been, give you the greatest life yet, and you are going to love yourself soon enough. Trust God and Alcoholics Anonymous. Cherish all the moments with your BRC sisters and just have fun.
The first time I worked in the BRC kitchen I was watching my kitchen Peer Mentors prepare a CENTER TABLE event and just watching them make the food look so pretty and neat from scratch inspired me to learn. I joined the catering team and began to learn so many yummy things to cook and make.
The most important thing I want people to know about CENTER TABLE is when you order our food not only are you ordering a very delicious meal or treat but your changing lives and boosting the self-confidence of the women here at BRC. It’s an incredible opportunity for women working through their recovery to learn responsibility and culinary skills that they can use to obtain employment.
The thing I love most about running CENTER TABLE is watching the women on the catering team as their self-esteem and self-confidence grows because of the things they have learned to create and cook, and the joy it brings them when at the end of the day they know they made that delicious, beautiful dish for other people to enjoy!
CENTER TABLE has provided me a way to give back to the house that saved me and that’s an amazing feeling. We do recover and I just want you all to know how grateful I am for God and BRC for saving my life and giving me the best life ever!