By Norah Lubeck and Austin Wymore
Little red barns appear on lots around Durham and Chapel Hill every November.
Surrounded by Christmas music, fairy lights and the smell of pine needles, these barns sell hand-picked, locally grown trees and Christmas decor for the holiday season, but also serve to fund the Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers (TROSA) program.
TROSA is a non-profit that provides a free residential rehabilitation program for people dealing with substance abuse. The tree lots help pay for residents’ schooling, medical care and other expenses throughout their recovery.
“The tree lots are one of the projects that we have every year,” said Jeff Stern, TROSA’s director of business operations. “It’s one of our biggest fundraising events of the year.”
TROSA’s tree lots have been around for over 20 years and are designed to create a peer-driven community where people in recovery work together to help each other improve and build a better life.
“It’s really a great way for the community to show their support for our program and the work that the residents in our program are doing to help turn their lives around and move in a positive direction,” Stern said.
Residents in the TROSA program not only work at the tree lots, but also at TROSA’s other enterprises, which include moving, lawn care and thrift stores.
“[The TROSA operations] are a chance for some of our residents to interact and have customers see that the face of addiction is maybe not what they thought it was,” Stern said. “A lot of people have preconceptions about what addiction looks like, what a drug addict or an alcoholic may look or act like. Then they come onto our tree lots, or they meet our movers, or they come to our thrift store, and they may see people who are very polite and smart and engaging, and it helps them to realize that these are just people who are dealing with a problem.”
Stern believes that the holiday season, the environment of the tree lots and especially seeing families and kids, help boost the spirits of the residents and staff and show them hope.
“A lot of people are away from their families while they’re in the program,” Stern said. “The basic program is a two-year residential program, and so it can be very difficult for people to be away from their families all the time, but especially during the holidays.”
TROSA’s goal this year is to reach $125,000 in donations from their six lots running through the holiday season.
Scenes from the Southpoint and Northgate TROSA tree lots. The other lots are in Chapel Hill and Morrisville. Photos by Norah Lubeck.
A TROSA graduate’s experience
Felicia Cox, a current tree lot manager, graduated from the TROSA program last year. She thinks that the community environment of the tree lots creates a positive experience.
“The tree lots help everybody’s spirit change. It’s just a positive moment where there’s nothing to be upset about on a pretty tree lot,” Cox said.
Cox started as a cashier at the tree lots over four years ago and credits TROSA and the tree lots for helping her out of addiction.
“I started doing drugs when I was 13,” she said. “I kept it together for about 20 years, and the last two, I didn’t. My life just became unmanageable, depressing and embarrassing, and I wanted to do better.
“I got arrested. I violated my probation, like, 56 times,” she said. “But this time, I didn’t want to go back [to jail]. They dropped all my charges, and they told me that they weren’t gonna help me get help.”
Cox wasn’t sure what to do next until an unexpected interaction pointed her towards TROSA.
“When I called my mom to tell her, there was a girl sitting next to me on a bench,” said Cox. “She said, ‘Felicia, if you want to change, there’s a place in Durham, North Carolina. It’ll give you four packs of cigarettes a week, and it’s gonna be really hard. But if you want to change.’ I believed her. I got out of jail the next day. I was on a plane four days later. I have been here four and a half years now. July 27 of next year will be five.”
Since graduating from TROSA, Cox has managed to completely turn her life around.
“I didn’t have a license for 14 years,” she said. “I am a convicted felon. I did nothing to help anybody except for getting into a jail cell. And now I’m a manager at TROSA, and I have a car, I have a license. My family loves me, and I have respect for myself.”
Cox intends to stay at TROSA for the foreseeable future.
