CENTRAL SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Bouncy castles, food trucks, and vendors filled Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Springs Saturday afternoon for the Stronger Together Summit. But it was more than just a day of festivities, it is a day of outreach and community connections.
Organized by Silver Linings Recovery Center, the event is designed to connect people with resources for sober living, rehabilitation after incarceration, and assistance for the unhoused population. And if people didn't know what was going on?
"We want people to come down here and ask questions. It gives us the opportunity to have the conversation and break those walls that are in between us, so we talk to each other," Adam Alexander said.
Alexander, the owner of Silver Linings Recovery Center, said the event's visibility is intentional to help bridge the gap between people who won't normally interact.
"We can create bonds in the community for people that don't normally communicate with one another and since they don't have that open communication, they have challenges being able to make relationships with one another," Alexander said.
The summit also serves as a chance to teach others how they can get involved with organizations like Complete Recovery Systems.
“Today I've got 73 of my staff roaming around this city and this park making those connections with everyone. That's that's their directive today is not just the unhoused, not the people that it's easy to identify that are in need, because you can't always tell by somebody's clothes or by their smell if they're in need,” said Alexander.
And throughout the day, there was entertainment in the bandshell along with words of wisdom from those who have experienced homelessness or addiction firsthand.
"This is why we came down here to this to the stage so that people so they can see that we're out here," Judah Hayes with Complete Recovery Systems said.
Instead of asking unhoused people to leave Acacia Park before the event began Saturday morning, organizers invited them to participate.
"They'd be like, 'You can't be here, we live here.' So we went over there and said, 'Hey, stay right there and let's bring some food over to you and let's sit down and have a conversation.' It may not save their life, but it may save their life today," Alexander said.
I checked back in with Malachi Cisneros, who I spoke to weeks ago at Complete Recovery Systems, a sober living house in Central Springs.
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"They want more for themselves, and it's very apparent and it makes me happy to be a part of that and to be watching these grown men care for their life again for them to realize that they have a second chance in this world and that they're they're taking it," Cisneros said.
Cisneros said he can now help others do the same at the Stronger Together Summit. He himself has grown since last speaking to News5. He is beginning to save up and continue being there for his daughter.
He said Acacia Park hits close to home.
"I used to sleep in the bushes right under that tree right behind you. I used to be the less fortunate, and the reason I'm out here is because I want to be able to find that person who's just laying down, who's down in the rut, and to be able to come up to him and reach my hand out and tell him come on we got this," Cisneros said.
Alexander said the momentum for the event and the recovery centers he owns are growing. This Stronger Together Summit is just another step in the right direction.
"This is a place that's free from judgment. Free from social standards and in all walks of life to be able to come out here and just enjoy the day with one another and then hopefully along that time they create relationships with one another that's going to make tomorrow better," Alexander said.
