Bridges and Grace

[Upbeat Guitar Music]

Mike: Welcome everybody. This is Avoiding the Addiction Affliction, a series brought to you by Westwords Consulting, the Kenosha County Substance Use Disorder Coalition, and by a grant from the state of Wisconsin's Dose of Reality Real Talks reminding you that opioids are powerful drugs and that one pill can kill. I'm Mike McGowan.

Mike: The Bridge House Grace House in New Orleans, Louisiana has a wonderful mission. It is simply rebuilding lives for men and women with dignity, honesty, and respect to help those who have literally lost everything. We're gonna talk about how they go about that with our guest today. Kevin Gardere. Kevin has been with Bridge House Grace House since 2002, and presently is the CEO. Welcome.

Kevin: Thanks Mike. Thanks for having me on.

Mike: Well, there's the New Orleans accent.

Kevin: Yep. There it is.

Mike: Did you grow up there?

Kevin: Sure did. Yeah. So sometimes we get confused with, a Boston, maybe New York accent. Yeah, we hear that a lot. But I'm New Orleans, born and bred.

Mike: Yeah. I don't get, maybe Boston. I don't get New York though.

Kevin: Right.

Mike: Well, Kevin, I'll get to the programs at Bridge House Grace House in a minute. But first you didn't start out there as a CEO.

Kevin: No, I didn't start out wanting to grow up and be a CEO of a nonprofit. Especially we're a substance abuse facility for the homeless, indigene, uninsured, underinsured, unemployed. Basically started for those people living on the streets. But no, I had a good life. I'm the youngest of five kids and was what we say, spoiled rotten mostly by my siblings.

Kevin: But just recently we lost my father and I'm sure it brought us all together when we were talking about stories. And I was like, you know, I was drunk at this event. And they were like, wait, no. You were 11.

Mike: Yeah.

Kevin: I'm like, yeah, I was drunk. And then at 14 it was like, I remember it was like my parents' 25th anniversary.

Kevin: Just, totally intoxicated. And so I grew up in a good family. I had everything I needed and a lot of what I wanted and, things were there for me, but I always seemed like I, had an addictive personality and then went through high school, graduated [inaudible], I was getting ready to go up to LSU and had a family issue.

Kevin: And like my parents separated for a period of time and I was the only one in the house. So I had some money from graduation, was just going out every night. And never really dabbled into the drugs that much. I did ecstasy a little in high school, smoked weed, but it was mostly just alcohol.

Kevin: And then driving home from uptown New Orleans to the suburbs where I lived, along July 28th, 1988, I was totally intoxicated. Don't remember most of that day. And I went through a telephone pole and into someone's house. I was about four blocks from home. And they had to shock me. They thought, like a transformer blew at this house, but it was actually my car, like, you know, in the, thank God I was alone. 'Cause nobody else was hurt. Nobody in the house, but lost my spleen, my left kidney. Was in the hospital for two months and had acid burn all on my right leg. My left leg had a compound fracture and my femur, it was a mess. And you know, there were moments where they didn't know if I would make it and like when they took out the kidney.

Kevin: After a couple of weeks, they were trying to save it. At first I started internally bleeding. It was a tough two months for me. And instead of that being kind of an eyeopening experience and thinking like, maybe I have this issue, I was quickly introduced to opiates and I was getting demerol IV push, which is like shooting up every, going straight into your veins, every three hours. And then they would do it every four. And then they'd started doing it muscular. But I think when I finally was released from the hospital, I was excited about just being home and I was still taking the pills and then my leg was a mess.

Kevin: It was like three inches shorter than my right leg. And so I had numerous surgeries in the next year or two. And of course with the first one back was just like a scope and they gave me some more Percocet and I was like, this really makes me feel pretty good. And I don't really have any stressors.

Kevin: I have a lot I have to do physical therapy wise, but with this, I can get through it, I can get through a few things. It slowed me down. It was a state of euphoria and throughout the next 13 years I stayed addicted and had numerous surgeries. Wanted to have surgeries at one point just to get...

Mike: Mmm.

Kevin: Be able to get more meds and started doctor shopping. And not long after the following year, after the accident, I went to LSU and I had this huge device on my leg that was used to lengthen my leg. Like literally I had pins going through and through and a [inaudible], it's called the Ilizarov. I had 14 pins gone through my femur and the lower leg.

Kevin: And you were basically, they cut my bone in half, the outer bone. You pull apart your bone a millimeter [inaudible].

Mike: Ugh!

Kevin: That was the first doctor, it was Dr. Michelle Zembo. She was pretty young at the time. She was the only doctor in the state that was doing it. So I had to go to her children's hospital even though I was 19 to have this put on.

Kevin: But she knew I had an issue. I was like, what kind of pain meds do I get when...

Mike: (laughs)

Kevin: She was the first one to realized that. Anyway you know, I finished college, met a beautiful woman. I was working for the recreation department and coaching baseball and basketball and life looked good on the outside, but I was very good at hiding it.

Kevin: It got to a point where I wanted to go in everybody's house and my reasoning was to see if they had pain meds in their medicine cabinet was to find out Whether, but they kept 'em in the bathroom, the kitchen, some people do the bedroom thing, but most are bathroom and kitchen. So that was my goal whenever I was at someone's house for years.

Kevin: And even I can remember like when we were looking for houses to buy, like asking to use the bathroom and like stealing meds from a house. Then I wanted to go more open houses just to see if that their bathroom had pain meds in and then, buying something off the street.

Kevin: And, but with my injuries it was pretty easy to get.

Mike: Sure.

Kevin: But, it was, at first it was like, well, I need this, or I'm in pain. And I was, but then there were times where I'm like, I'm not in pain, but I want it. I got married in '96, was working as a high school basketball coach and an athletic director.

Kevin: Finally, it just kind of hit the fan. Like my wife knew I had a issue. I had told her I'd stopped drinking. I never really did, I had an alcohol abuse seizure when my wife was eight months pregnant with my daughter, Grace. And so that was like 1999. And then after Grace was born, we went on a trip to Gulf Shores or a beach in Alabama, Florida line.

Kevin: And I went out and got shit faced again and she left. And, her leaving may have saved my life. But I didn't stop there.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Kevin: I started talking to this guy Buzzy 'cause I knew his nephew and I knew his wife, his nephew I grew up with. His wife was a crazy LSU fan.

Kevin: Most of my family and we used to tailgate together, but when things got bad and they're like, in over those periods I had a lot, a couple of overdoses. I think three, it was mostly pills then, and Oxycontin really hadn't hit the scene then. But after my wife left, I had some money, still had a job, and I'm like, y'all are crazy.

Kevin: I don't have a problem. I'm the youngest athletic director in the state of Louisiana. Look at this guy. He's the addict, that guy, you know, just all the denial patterns.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Kevin: I was the king of him. And then I started talking to Buzzy after my wife left and I knew he had something I wanted and he was the executive director of Bridge House at that time and had been running Bridge House forever.

Kevin: He was never at the tailgating or at the parties. He was always helping people or something. And he was an amazing man, had a great story, like, had it all and gave it away, to get into the substance abuse treatment field and just a spiritual giant. But it took two years after we started talking, before I realized how bad my issue was and didn't really take his suggestions of going to AA meetings.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Kevin: Going to AA meetings with no alcohol but tons of pills in me. And the same around like my family. I just wouldn't drink in front of people, but was always pilled up and eventually I lost my job and I had to move back in with my parents.

Kevin: The pills ran out, so I was just turning alcohol and then it was like, I am either gonna swallow a bullet or get honest with somebody, you know? Thank God I did. And I mean, my breathing was probably about 50 respirations a minute. I was six one, a hundred and twenty one pounds. My dad brought me to meet Buzzy to talk to him.

Kevin: And then, he gave me the riot act the whole way there. I can't believe you're doing this to me and your mom and blah, blah, blah. And then Buzzy, he's like, you need to go to detox. So it was March 30th, 2001. The next day was my golden birthday. I was turning 31, March 31st, 2001. And I spent that golden birthday in Charity Hospital of New Orleans Detox Unit and not where you want to be when you grow up. But I remember be before my dad gave me the riot act and Buzzy stayed with me until they had a bed available at the hospital to detox and we stayed in his office and I met a few guys who were setting up for a meeting and I had no clue what Bridge House was.

Kevin: I thought it was just a homeless facility that helped people get on their feet and get a job maybe. But I made a commitment that I was gonna come back there after detox, but I can remember going into detox, the two big wooden doors and the lady opened the door and my dad grabbed me and he is like, you don't have to do this.

Kevin: It was a four hour process from me bringing him in all the, the riot act. And he's like, wait, you don't have to do this. We can... And I'm like, no, I need to do it. And thank God I had that moment of clarity and they made a commitment to come back to Bridge House and it was a little wild at first.

Kevin: I was scared.

Mike: Yeah I bet.

Kevin: I was scared to death. And walking up the ramp, I can remember some guy hugging me and says, I love you and you don't have to live that way anymore. And I'm like, who the hell is this guy?

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Kevin: You know, what is wrong with him? And then my first roommate had been in Angola Prison.

Kevin: The most famous prison in Louisiana for 25 years. And I'm like, man, you only get in Angola for 25 years for a couple of things. And then I got to know him and he had killed his father. 'Cause his father, his stepfather, 'cause he was you know, he was raping his stepbrother and sister. And I'm like, man, I could've done that.

Kevin: You know, if that would've happened to me, that could, would be me. And especially if, you know, I was filled up or I had a little juice in my system. So it quickly me let me realize that like, I'm not different than any of these guys here at first. And then, you know, I entered and it was a year long treatment program back then and

Mike: Wow!

Kevin: Yeah, the promises of 12 steps started coming true for me really quickly. I was like. After about a month I started sleeping decently. And I gained a little bit of hope and just the guys in the house was the biggest thing. And then of course we had a counselor and then we had people come in and talk and then they had work therapy like where you're assigned a job within the organization.

Kevin: It could be one of our thrift stores. Like we have a car lot, mechanic shop, and, things were great but when I moved to like the final phase, which was kind of the independent living phase where you were living in an apartment, kind of like the Oxford House model, but you were still part of our program, we still had group every night and so forth.

Kevin: I was like, I don't think I'm as sick as these guys. You know, these guys, they've been through four treatments. They smoking crack. Started not attending the meetings, forging the slips and I fell on my face and got a shit face on my mother's 60th surprise birthday party.

Kevin: There was no alcohol there. I was at a little reception hall. There was no alcohol there because of me. They didn't want to tempt me, I guess you would say. And I showed up shit faced. And it was a hundred people there and we were a huge family. And at that moment thank God I had another moment of clarity. I got in a, like a physical fight with my father and his brother.

Kevin: My uncle, who was extremely close to, was like, where do you want to go? I'm like where do I want to go? Like, he's not even gonna take me in, you know? And I'm like, I want to go back to Bridge House. And, and thank God he took me in. I started the program all over and that's how I was, that's how I was introduced to Bridge House.

Kevin: And I can remember Buzzy coming in, like, look man. And it was one of the first times he yelled at me after a relapse and he was like, you know, Bridge House isn't gonna say [inaudible]. But we'll give you a two as you need, but the 12 steps will.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Kevin: That's when I immersed myself into NA and mostly AA actually, I attended.

Mike: I thought it was interesting, I think I got this right, that you took over your CEO position from somebody who was one of your first counselors there, and she was also a resident.

Kevin: He was so Bridge House at one point had women in our program. So right now we're Bridge House Grace House.

Mike: Yes.

Kevin: Bridge House is the men's facility. Grace House is the women. We merged after Katrina, after Hurricane Katrina. 'cause Grace House really didn't have a nest egg to reopen and we had been saving money to build our own facility.

Kevin: And it just made sense. But going back to your question, Elisa Peterson was my first counselor, and she had come through in the nineties when Bridge House, we had a day program because we had like 130 beds. And we were accepting women. But like if you had a place to stay you could stay there and then show up at Bridge House at 7:00 AM and stay there at 10:00 PM, go home.

Kevin: And then come back and she was part of that program. And we did have some women beds that we'd like put the women upstairs and men downstairs, but it just, it was too much. We were creating too many issues.

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Kevin: But Elsa went through that program. She went and got her counseling credentials and went and got her MBA.

Kevin: She she then took over when Buzzy passed away in 2011.

Mike: On the first page of your website, it says that for over 65 years, 'cause you guys have been around a long time, it's been your mission to provide substance use disorder treatment services to those who have lost everything. And I would think that would also include insurance.

Kevin: Yeah. So the Medicaid expansion didn't really come to Louisiana until 2016. The previous governors before that rejected the Obamacare basically. And so we were working for years with not accepting any type of private insurance and getting minimal support from the government.

Kevin: But it was started in 57, a group of guys that had like four or five guys that wanted to help those people living on the street. They opened a facility with like five beds above a bar in a neighborhood that was considered Skid Row. So they really met the population where they were. And then a year or two after that, they moved to the Camp Street location, which people still believe, you know, we own that.

Kevin: We never did own it. We rented it for 40 years, but it increased our capacity significantly. And it was kind of like a 12 step clubhouse at the time. It kind of stayed that way up until 1984 is when Buzzy Gaiennie took over and also really made this place what it is today.

Kevin: I mean, the clinical team we have is better than it's ever been. We are struggling financially, but our program, which we have shortened our program over the years. We ask people to make a commitment to stay with us for six months. Some people may be able to complete and they're as quick as four, and then others might have to stay here.

Kevin: We have a couple of ladies at Grace House that have been here 10 months or so. So we try to individualize it. But we're having more completions the last year, more than '24 than we had in '23, which '23 broke a record. 730 people a year, and we had 120 completions in 2024.

Kevin: We're on pace to be about 140 this year. So, I mean, it takes a lot to stay here. It's, you're six months, you're sleeping here. But the way the program is set up, it's like you gradually get a little bit more freedom as you progress.

Mike: I'll get to the funny in a minute, which is part of the reason I wanted to talk to you, but dignity, restoring somebody's dignity when they've lost everything includes getting back on your feet financially, so it includes work, right?

Kevin: Yeah. So vocational rehabilitation is a huge part of our program. I mean, there's not many places anymore that'll treat someone for free for after detox and then like that 28 day stretch. So maybe 45, like we get referrals from all over the state, but we really treat the whole person, after you're here for a month or so.

Kevin: You know, that first month, I guess, would be similar to most 28 day programs. Lots of group meetings, readings, writings, homework assignments, study halls, 12 step meetings, one-on-ones. After that, you're assigned a job within our organization, and that's really the meat and potatoes of our program.

Kevin: The people that walk through our doors, the majority have been through three treatment episodes before. They know what to do. They just haven't done it yet. I say it's kind of like reality therapy. It's you know, it difficult to work in our kitchen. It's, we have 84 guys here.

Mike: Wow!

Kevin: You know, serving dinner tonight.

Kevin: At least 16 of 'em are gonna complain about what you're serving them. You know, it's stressful. And working in our thrift store, in our warehouse. It's pretty impressive when you see our thrift store, our warehouse and our car lot, they're asked to perform. And so you're going through these jobs that you're given and you're experiencing the daily stresses of a work environment, but still being asked to practice the principles of recovery.

Mike: Yeah.

Kevin: And then back to house, you eat dinner, you have a meeting with one of the counselors, a group meeting, and then a 12 step meeting that night, and then lights out, start over, let's go.

Mike: I don't think somebody who's listening to this could duplicate what you're doing on the fly.

Mike: It would take a long time to build, but talk about the variety you touched on a minute ago, the thrift store, the car lot. People were like, what? What car lot?

Kevin: Right.

Mike: Talk about the variety of different ways that you fundraise.

Kevin: Yeah. So when Buzzy took over in '84, he realized real quickly. The government wasn't giving any money out to alcoholic and addict males that were living on the street, you know?

Kevin: So he started raising money. So the development team first started then and he asked a lot of his peers for money. He was on the Sugar Bowl committee, a nice country club. He didn't really do all that. He let his daughter and his wife go to all those functions, but he knew a lot of people and he helped anyone.

Kevin: You know, you are like, who's meeting when Buzzy? You're like, it could be a guy off the street. It could be an NFL player. We had Saints players living in Bridge House in the late eighties, which is wild. And then they would drive and go to work. But he realized he needed to expand the length of stay, kind of bring reality into the treatment setting.

Kevin: And when he asked his peers for money, they gave him money, but they gave him tons of in-kind items like clothing, stoves, refrigerators. And it was that point that he started a thrift store to become a revenue stream. But you know, more importantly. A place where the individuals will experience some of those daily stressors and the reality therapy set in.

Kevin: And not long after that, he had owned, he was in the car dealership business. So it wasn't long after that we started asking for donations for the thrift store and then eventually asking the community for donations for our car lot. So those two, our thrift store brings in about 20 to 25% of our budget annually, and we have a $10 million budget.

Mike: Wow!

Kevin: Yeah, we have 92 employees. About 18 at thrift store operation. It's a beast. So we do have a lot of overhead, but the car lot only has like five employees. And then development team only has three, about four, five administration, you know, a maintenance crew and inside maintenance, outside maintenance, vans.

Kevin: And then the rest of the employees are all clinical, counselors and resident advisors. And the car lot, it's crazy. I mean, before COVID started, we were getting close to a hundred cars donated a month. Now a lot of these we could not resell to the general public. We had to just send to scrap.

Kevin: But the way our program's set now with the cars is we take anything. 'Cause even if we have to junk it, we'll make $400 or $450. We own our own tow truck, we have our own mechanic shop. We try to fix it if we can. If we feel like it's something we would let our siblings drive or our kids drive.

Kevin: Then we sell it to the public. Sometimes we sell it to other car lots. And people who run used car lots, they'll come buy a car for parts. We get 'em. Now, we only get about 65, 70 cars donated a month, but it's still, that's a lot.

Mike: That is a lot.

Kevin: It is.

Kevin: And then the thrift stores, we have two trucks that are out on the road every day picking up donations for people.

Kevin: But it took a long time.

Mike: Yeah.

Kevin: Like you said, if people look at our motto and like, I'm gonna do that, you know, it took years for our thrift stores to develop what it is today and tons of, tons of support from our community. We know we provide a vital service to the greater New Orleans area, but we really couldn't do what we do without their support. You look at our funding pie chart, there's four areas.

Kevin: There's thrift store, car lot, development, which especially events, grant writing, direct ask, and then there's government support, which is the majority of that is Medicaid. So those other three car lot, thrift store, development depend on donations. And so about 65, 67%, I think it wasn't 24 of our funding is because of people's donations.

Mike: You must be worried about cuts to Medicaid, even though you get other revenue streams, you know, look at, well, there's an opinion coming. Look at the work that you put in just to help people get back on their feet and become tax paying citizens who have some dignity and a life.

Kevin: Yeah. So we'll touch on Medicaid. Like for each person that comes through our program. In order to complete, we want them to be clean and sober for X amount of time. Have a job, a source of income. And they usually stay with us for like a month or so once they've secured an outside job. You know, that's like in phase three.

Kevin: We want them to have a safe place to stay and then we want them to have a strong network of people in recovery, kind of outside of our walls. But the Medicaid is a big scare. Our rates for reimbursement. There's different levels of care. There's six different MCO insurance companies that write behavioral health and substance abuse.

Kevin: And I mean, you know, like I said, we're long term. So the people who we do get funding for, which at any given point, it's like 50% of the people we treat. 'Cause after 90 days, you're not getting a nickel. So we're all dependent on those donations to, we call 'em like community beds or scholarship beds.

Kevin: So, at any given time, but, you know, 35% of your budget is, you know, it's a lot of money. It's three and a half mil that we need, we rely on the government for. At one point, we really didn't have much support. And then, you know, when it became available, we entered it like Grace House was getting some government support because of the women, especially women who had children and were out on the poverty line. But we hadn't seen an increase in Louisiana and the reimbursement rates since 2012. So it got increased a little, like 20%. But for us at the 3.1 level of care, which is after that 45 day period, they pay like $102 a day. It costs us about $115 a day per person, per bed.

Kevin: So, and what's gonna happen, a lot of work goes on with, we're in a coalition with a couple other facilities and, we were nervous we were gonna lose that 20% because it was only put in place for nine months. But they knock on wood, they kept it in place for the next year and it looks like it's gonna stay there where it was just temporary.

Kevin: With that increase stayed in place, you know, the majority of the people were still losing money or it still cost us.

Mike: Well, you used the term before. You also have special events, fundraisers, and I cannot, after looking at your stuff, I cannot let you go without asking you about something called the Mr. Legs. I think you 24, that means you had 23 other ones. The Mr. Legs 24 fundraiser. That seems to be in a Mardi Gras, New Orleans tradition.

Kevin: It's wild. So I tell people early off in recovery. You maybe shouldn't attend this event. But saying that, 'cause there is alcohol, I mean, in New Orleans it's hard to have a fundraiser without saying...

Mike: Yeah right.

Kevin: And for me, like step one was I needed to realize that I was powerless of alcohol and pills and but step 1A was for me to realize like a lot of my close friends that drank a lot and abused alcohol at points in their life that they were not, you know, they were not alcohol. So realizing that other people can drink and some kids sometimes get drunk and you know, the next day they wake up and they have a hangover and they're like, I'm not doing this for anymore.

Kevin: And they don't, where, you know, the addict alcoholic's like, I'm gonna bite the dog that bit me. But anyway, Mr. Legs just had its 25th year. So we have contestants. It was, it was started as a mock, a beauty pageant for men and it has transitioned over the years to a hysterical performance by the contestants.

Kevin: They get on stage and they're usually taking on the role of a celebrity or somebody that's spinning the news. We have some clever guys, like one of the guys, Steve Carnes who's in it just about every year and usually wins best costume performance. Extremely intelligent, very witty. He's about six five, about 350, and has been everything from Snooki, Michael Jackson, to Queen Elizabeth. And this year he was Pope Leo.

Mike: Oh, oh geez. (laughs)

Kevin: Done to come out. And by the end of it, you know, they're showing their legs and maybe some of their chest, and it gets a little R rated. But the craziest thing about it, so the winner of Mr. Legs is the individual who raises the most money for us.

Kevin: And then we give out, like other, we have like celebrity judges, like TV anchors that vote on like sexiest legs, best performance, best costume, hairiest legs, things like that. But the real winner is the person who raised the most money.

Mike: Awesome.

Kevin: We have a guy that graduated, Roberto, from Bridge House in 1987.

Kevin: He couldn't be in it this year because he was sick, but he still raised $15,000.

Mike: Unbelievable.

Kevin: So we have three graduates from our program, and then another guy who's in recovery that are always in the event. I'm like, I don't know how you're gonna do it. These other guys are like, they're getting liquid courage before they go up on stage and dance in front of a thousand people that you don't know and it's crazy. We raised $130,000 this year at the event. It's wild.

Mike: Well, and the reason I brought that up.

Kevin: What you are talking about is our fourth annual sober fest. So we wanted to have a festival, alcohol drug free festival, music festival that you know could not only bring our community together, but also show our residents that you can have fun.

Kevin: Not only is recovery attainable, it can be enjoyable. So, and then we have two other events that raise a lot of money also.

Mike: Having fun without substances and giving people a leg up that seems to describe you guys in a sentence or so.

Kevin: It does. It sure does.

Mike: Kevin, I'm so glad you could talk about it today.

Mike: There's so many people who listen across the country and outside of the country who are struggling to keep programs going and I loved the creativity and the variety of things that you've done to help people who literally have lost everything.

Mike: Those of you who listen, know that we're gonna put links to Bridge House Grace House, the contact information on the podcast.

Mike: Kevin, not only thanks for your work, but thanks for sharing your story. Pretty amazing.

Mike: For those of you listening, watching, we hope you find support, help wherever you are. As always, thanks for listening. Be safe. And you know what, think about helping somebody else in need, be a Buzzy.