The longer I'm around the more old ideas I give up. I used to think everyone shared my one time obsession of making a lot of money. And to accumulate things.
In fact, at one time I made sure that our key people made a good salary. Maybe 20-30% more than the going rate. But, when it was all over they almost bankrupt the company. On top of that, some of them relapsed, lost everything they had, and ended up homeless. That’s when I realized I'd missed something.
And the thing I missed was that people will work harder if they have a mission in life than for any other reason. Addicts, like other people, want a sense of security and want to feel like they belong. And TLC provides that.
We provide recovery education, employment, and a sense of family. That's why we've had some addicts who've worked with us for over 20 years. And when the economy got tough, many of our top people took heavy pay cuts. And a few worked for no pay at all. They had such an emotional investment in this project and a sense of belonging that they did everything they could to keep our mission alive.
So like I said at the beginning I had to give up some of my old ideas. I help people belong. I help them have a sense of purpose. And while they're not getting rich, we do everything we can to meet their needs. If they need glasses or dental work or have other medical needs we do what we can to meet them. If they have no family and they're terminally ill, we allow them to live out their days here - whether they have money or not.
Possessions and money isn't what life is about: It's about what we can do to lift up our fellow man. That’s what we do here.
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