Letter from Jim Hutzelman

Greetings,

I’m Jim Hutzelman, a member of the Board of Directors of Heartland House. I’m the Secretary of the Board and the Chair of its Fundraising and Community Presence Committee. I hope that everyone among our Heartland House family and friends is enjoying a safe and prosperous new year.

Like organizations inside and outside of the recovery world, Heartland House has faced myriad challenges that have carried over from the past two years into 2022. The COVID pandemic and its deep impacts have caused our team to continue to operate with extreme vigilance and under altered procedures to safeguard the wellbeing of clients and staff. These include reduction in the capacity of our recovery facility along with strict enforcement of check-in, quarantining and prevention measures that require everyone at Heartland House to be flexible, patient and resourceful.

Heartland House is not alone when it comes to facing COVID’s challenges. What I see as making us different is that our team of professionals is doing so with a degree of energy and morale that make me proud to be part of this organization. Robert Cook and his staff demonstrate their commitment to the mission of Heartland House by showing up and striving each day to provide the first-rate services that our resident clients need to traverse the road to recovery from substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. And while a pandemic could serve as a barrier to improvements, Heartland House has – as our News From the House section describes – continued to upgrade our support systems and facilities in a never-ending effort to maintain excellence in what we do.

And we cannot do what we do without the generosity of our supporters. 2022 will see us seeking new opportunities to give our staff and their clients the tools that they need to support and sustain recovery. To that end, please check out our donor webpage, https://heartlandhouse.org/get-involved, and, as our mission statement says, help us to help the newly recovering alcoholic/addict establish a long-term support system, and generate attitudes that enhance self-sufficiency, self-worth and an ongoing quality of life.

Thank you everything you have done for Heartland House.