Karen and Chris
Family Story
Chris and Karen Raahauge are strong believers that no matter how far down the scale you have gone, man or woman, you can recover!!
They have made it their sole purpose to HELP the suffering addict/alcoholic who doesn’t have the means to help themselves.
The passion and empathy they feel in their hearts comes from personal identity with the struggle of addiction and alcoholism. They understand on a very personal level how powerful this disease is.
Chris has 15 years clean and sober and knows all too well the pain and suffering these people go through on a day to day basis. He understands hopelessness, and identifies with the pain and personal suffering caused by addiction. He knows what it’s like to feel lost and alone.
Karen has her own personal story and experience with addiction. Although she never personally battled with active using or drinking, she watched it ruin the lives of her husband Chris and youngest daughter Angela. Walking through that kind of pain was one of the hardest things she’s ever had to go through. She also identifies with hopelessness and powerlessness. She understands what the families go through as they watch their loved ones disappear. They have walked through this as a married couple and also as parents. The road to recovery wasn’t always easy for Chris and Karen but they never gave up and they won’t start now.
As a recovering addict/alcoholic Chris has dedicated himself to helping others find their way to recovery. They offer help to those who want it, but can’t afford it. This disease is cunning, baffling and powerful. It has no ‘off’ button, it won’t stop, and neither will Chris and Karen.
They are passionate because they identify!!! They express empathy because they understand they are giving back what was given to them, a CHANCE to CHANGE!!!
“My name is Angela and I’m a recovering Alcoholic/Addict.”
This is important for me to remember, I’m not healed, I’m not cured, I will always be recovering!
My sobriety date is 10/29/2012 and for that I am forever grateful.
I’m the middle child of Chris and Karen, their youngest daughter. I’m a wife, a mother of three beautiful children, a sister, an aunt, grand-daughter, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law. First and most importantly, I’m clean and sober. Without that, I would have nothing.
The disease grabbed hold of me at a very young age, it grabbed on and held tight. I struggled through my teenage years until I was 25 with this nasty disease. So when I say I understand, it’s because I do. I understand the pain and hopelessness, and I understand the pain it inflicts on family members. My Dad first got sober in 1984 and joined A.A. and my Mom joined Alanon I’ve been around A.A. all my life. The pain I put them through I will never fully understand.
This is a family disease and has affected ALL of us in our own way and as a family. It’s devastating!
I know what it feels like to just want to give up on everything, to have nothing, to be lost and alone, just you and the disease.
I found my power through the A.A. Program, I’ve been to treatment TWICE on a county bed, I believe in God and all his Glory, and today I am different woman then I once was. I believe in the power of Change, I believe in helping others, I believe in the suffering alcoholic/addict that’s still out there.
I want to be part of a movement I want to be part of something bigger then myself. I want to break the chains of active addiction. There’s nothing we can’t do TOGETHER!!!
Angela M.
Angela M.
Mellissa R.
When I was a child, Friday nights were spent at the local AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) club. While my Dad attended his AA meetings and my Mom attended her Alanon (Family and Friends of Alcoholics) meetings, I learned at an early age how the disease affects the family.
There were always clean and sober people around our home. Members of AA were our extended family.
Unfortunately, relapse is sometimes part of an individual’s story. In our family it was part of my Dad’s story. While his relapse continued, our clean and sober extended family eventually disappeared from our lives…the life I had grown to know was gone.
During my teenage years while my Dad continued struggling with his sobriety, my younger sister started writing her own story with addiction. Although I wanted to save them, I knew I couldn’t, I knew there was nothing I could do and I felt so powerless.
As a young adult, I was married and had the joy of having three beautiful children. My husband at this time was also affected by this baffling disease. I then could relate to what my mom felt as a wife watching a person you knew so well become a person you didn’t even recognize.
I then began attending Alanon meetings out of a desperate need to find a way to make it and raise my children the best I could. It saved my life…just as it did my mom’s and just as AA saved my dad and my sister.
As a mother I’ve felt the pain of having a child spiral down, as my oldest son has fallen into the grip of this disease. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through. So again, and now as a parent, I could relate to how my mom felt. I know this disease and what it does. It is a family disease that affects everyone involved.
I also know there’s HOPE, and people do RECOVER. I’ve lived it…My family is full of success stories, one day at a time. But we didn’t do it alone…we all had the proper treatment and help. We worked through this as a family.
Shelter for Change’s mission is to help those with no financial resources get the treatment and help they need. I believe in it with all my heart and want nothing more than to be part of other’s success stories.