CRI-Help, a substance-abuse treatment organization, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a drive-in movie fundraiser featuring Universal’s “Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo” on a 50-foot screen at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia the evening of May 14.
Trejo, who went from addiction and prison to Southern California icon, is an actor, author, comedian, entrepreneur, restaurateur and someone who has become known as an all-purpose force for good when it comes to supporting nonprofits and helping people in need. He’s pretty much the face of L.A. these days. And what a face — it even adorns the walls of a famed Pacoima mural.
He has had ties with the North Hollywood-based nonprofit practically since its inception and will be receiving the inaugural Vanguard award created specifically for him based on his tireless work at CRI-Help and other drug-related venues throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
Trejo said awards don’t mean that much to him, but CRI-Help means everything.
“They have helped my friends,” he said. “When my daughter and son went down that path they helped them too. They’ve saved a lot of lives, just to be recognized by them is quite an honor.”
Trejo attributes his successful sobriety to God and the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program.
He also said he chose Cri-Help to support because they’ve been there from the beginning.
“CRI-Help started 50 years ago,” Trejo said. “This is their 50th anniversary. I’ve been clean 52 years. You know, I was here doing this two years before and when they came along it’s like they were heaven sent for all of the addicts who were trying to get clean.”
In the movie’s trailer from the award-winning bio-documentary, Trejo discusses his career and how he overcame addiction from an early age. He said he made a promise to himself to try and do good and that everything positive that happened to him was a direct result of helping someone else.
He said he made a promise to himself to try and do good and that everything positive that happened to him was a direct result of helping someone else.
“Danny led the way in respect to persons who were able to make a name for themselves and change their lives and it was sort of the birth of somebody who was able to make this very public transformation of going from someone who was involved in crime and other avenues and move his way into a completely new life and simultaneously continue to give back to the community and be very vocal about his recovery,” said Brandon Fernandez, chief operating officer at CRI-Help and a former client introduced to the agency when he was at his lowest and has experienced a radical transformation.
Fernandez describes the bio-documentary as incredibly powerful.
Part of its message is that change is possible for the mostly unlikely of candidates.
“Here at CRI-Help, people from all backgrounds have described themselves as unlovable and they transform into people who are completely trusted not only in their households but in their businesses and other affairs,” Fernandez said. “I think Danny is really remarkable and that’s what you see in the movie; that Danny is able to move and embody long lasting and sustainable change.”
CRI-Help, which has an annual $12 million operating budget with the majority of its revenue currently coming from the county and state, helped reframe addiction to be perceived as a physical illness, not a moral vice or crime and was a pioneer in the concept of drug and alcohol treatment now mirrored around the nation.
Since 1971, the non-profit has helped more than 45,000 people overcome drug and alcohol dependency.
There are eight locations in Los Angeles County – two licensed residential treatment programs offering 24-hour care. Its North Hollywood headquarters is a 135-bed facility, the outcome of a $8.5 million donation in 1995. There are five transitional living homes and one outpatient location.
About half of the agency’s 138 fulltime employees are alumni, 85 percent are in recovery and 95 percent of its clients, many homeless or on probation or parole, earn less than $18,000 annually.
And, according to agency officials, their Socorro program at the Lincoln Heights facility is the only licensed residential treatment program offering a full curriculum of residential substance abuse treatment services in Spanish without the use of translators
The nonprofit began when there was no money in this field and very little regard and concern for drug addicts. The societal view today has changed dramatically.
CRI-Help’s Chief Executive Officer Jack Bernstein tells a story about a prominent lawmaker who said many years ago that the best treatment for drug addicts is to put them all in the Grand Canyon and fill it with water.
“The central regard for addicts was pretty much the same throughout society,” Bernstein said. “We started with a complete and total naive idealistic approach of concern with drug addicts recognizing for the most part they had nowhere to go. The programs that were available to addicts did not really support the Narcotics Anonymous, the Alcoholic Anonymous approach. The only mission we saw ourselves having was to provide drug addicts with a safe place to get away from drugs they are using and to be introduced to Narcotics Anonymous. The idea from 50 years ago still drives most of the people who work here.”
But since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the past year presented many challenges at CRI-Help even down to nixing its bingo and barbecue fundraising gatherings.
In accordance with state protocols, CRI-Help consistently adjusted operations to ensure the safety of its employees and clients.
Unfortunately, their client caseload dropped by 50 percent for most of the year, making it difficult to take on new clients. Today their caseload is down by 30 percent.
Programs at CRI-Help are highly dependent on taking clients to outside Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
“We couldn’t do that anymore,” Bernstein said. “There weren’t any … and we would not have sent them there because it wouldn’t have been safe.”
Instead, the nonprofit bought new laptops and introduced those meetings on Zoom.
Another obstacle was the heavy dependency on alumni and sponsors in recovery from Narcotics and Alcohol Anonymous who normally meet face-to-face with addicts. That came to a halt and again, everyone took the Zoom route to overcome that challenge.
Today as pandemic regulations loosened up, the agency is now back to face-to-face meetings with sponsors outdoors and socially distanced with masks.
On a high note, access to telehealth was especially helpful when in-person groups were shut down.
“The drawback with telehealth for our population is we deal with a lot of indigent clients (who many) do not have the ability to telehealth,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein said for many months his agency was spending a half million dollars more than they were taking in and that made him nervous, but the county and state eventually stepped up to the plate and provided a lifeline.
Addiction has been around for thousands of years and probably will be around for another thousand and the pandemic’s effects show there has been a dramatic increase in addiction simultaneously resulting in overdoses and deaths sometimes.
CRI-Help has always treated opioid addictions despite periodic publicity that other drugs are taking the forefront. Treatment for addiction to alcohol and methamphetamines is also high on the list.
“Many addicts in recovery are isolated and addicts being isolated is a really bad idea,” Bernstein said. “That ultimately increases the amount of drugs they use, it increases the desire to get loaded and increases despair and depression and that coupled with some of the drugs out there, the degree of fentanyl and drugs is a bad combination.”
IF YOU GO
- What: Drive-in movie event with actor Danny Trejo. This ticketed fundraiser is open to the public and features catering by Trejo’s Tacos and a screening of Universal Studios’ award-winning feature documentary Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (2019), chronicling the actor’s journey from addiction to Hollywood stardom.
- When: 8p.m. to 11p.m. May 14
- Where: Santa Anita Park, 285 W Huntington Dr, Arcadia. Enter at Gate #6 from Colorado Place
- Tickets: VIP Admission: $200 per car. Includes preferred parking, two meal vouchers, commemorative apparel and Pivot Coldbrew.
- General Admission (with Food): $150 per car. Includes two meal vouchers.
- General Admission (without Food): $80 per car.
- Information: Visit https://www.tickettailor.com/events/crihelp/499370 for more information and COVID-19 guidelines.
