Dream Centre Radiothon
Helping the DC men achieve success
by Doris Fleck

This year’s Calgary Dream Centre (CDC) is undergoing a radical makeover.

In past years, executive director Jim Moore said, “our focus was more about the money we raised.” But when the ninth annual Radiothon fundraiser kicks off at 6 am on September 22, he said, “It’s going to be all about the guys.”

Moore explained, “This year we’ll be focusing on practical ways the people and churches in our community can contribute to our guys to help them achieve success.”

With the Dream Centre always running at capacity, there are 125 men who call this refurbished hotel, on Macleod Trail S., their ‘home.’ For three months, they work through an intensive program that will help free them of the drug and alcohol addictions that made their life a living hell.

Not surprisingly, there is always a waiting list of men who are eager to get into the highly successful CDC program and clean up the mess they made of their lives.

Jim Moore said that he and a panel of guests are going to present practical ways Radiothon listeners can help these men.

Since the Dream Centre places a high priority on feeding their guys a nutritious meal, the cost of serving supper to 125 guys is about $400.

Moore is asking individuals and church groups if they could sponsor a supper by donating the cost, buying the food, or even bringing supplies and making the meal there. Moore is hopeful that 50 churches will phone in on the day to cover one or more meals.

The second focus is on the treatment program all the guys are asked to go through. It’s rare to find any one of the men without an addiction problem.

“Preventing the guys from relapsing is our main focus,” Moore said.

He explained that other treatment facilities can charge 10 times what they do. But their success rate speaks for itself. About 70 per cent of the men that make it through the three-month program will not go back to the streets, but instead become productive members of their community.

With the cost for one guy to go through their intense, God-centered program at $40 a day, Moore is asking the Calgary community to sponsor one of the men for a day, a week or to “give a bursary of $3600 to put one guy through treatment for three months.”

Moore explained that, “The Dream Centre is a place where miracles happen. We want the people and churches in Calgary to be part of those miracles.”

After completing the program, most of the men find good jobs, but some are reluctant to leave the support the Dream Centre provides. In the last year, the CDC acquired six houses in the city so that their graduates can live together, keeping each other accountable and still have access to CDC resources. Moore is asking for people to cover the $1,500 cost of furnishing each home.

During the all-day Radiothon, Shine FM and AM 1140 will feature interviews with some of the men whose lives have been changed by the CDC program. Their stories of loss, homelessness and addiction, now transformed into hope and restoration is what the Dream Centre is all about.

To make a donation, call 403-243-5598 or you can visit their website at www.calgarydreamcentre.com for more details.