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Recovery in the News
Saugus woman gives back to community which saved her
Chris Stevens
The Daily Item
January 3, 2011
SAUGUS - Jasmine Fiandaca, a recovering addict, has been recognized as a Local Hero for her efforts to help women starting on the same rocky road to recovery that she is on.
Bank of America chose Fiandaca as one of its Local Heroes, a program that recognizes people who contribute to the health of their neighborhood through volunteer service.
The award, part of the bank's Neighborhood Excellence Initiative, comes with a $5,000 grant, which Fiandaca can donate to the charity of her choice.
"My church, Grace Ministry, is where it is going since that is where I got clean and sober. They have been my foundation," she said.
It was her volunteer work with hopeFound's Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women, however, that won her the title of Local Hero. HopeFound is an organization that works with homeless men and women in the greater Boston area.
Fiandaca's story, sadly, is not unique. She was young and fell in with the wrong crowd.
"I started drinking and drugging when I was 12 or 13 years old," she said. "I was hanging around with older people, and hanging with the wrong crowd."
It didn't become a serious problem, Fiandaca said, until she turned 24 and a bad break up sent her looking for something to numb the pain.
"I was introduced to Oxycontin," she said. "It was a temporary fix. I was filling the void."
She spiraled down quickly, she said, but by early 2007 she realized that, "obviously my way wasn't working," and she got herself into rehab.
It wasn't easy, she said. It took Fiandaca nearly nine months to get clean. But she did and, in 2008, began to help others.
"I know how it is to feel crappy about yourself when you're in recovery," she said.
A hairstylist by trade, Fiandaca said she wanted to give women in her situation a boost and she knew cutting their hair would do the trick.
"It helps your self-esteem," she said. "You just feel better."
One day a month Fiandaca leaves her Saugus Home and travels into Boston to hopeFound where she cuts hair for 10 or 15 or however many women sign up for the free service. She sets up shop in a conference room with her shears.
Fiandaca said she's been volunteering with hopeFound for about two years and never thought anything about it. It was simply her way to give back. Then she learned organizers at hopeFund had put her name in for the Local Heroes award.
"I was, like, in shock," she said.
And she was flabbergasted, she said, when she learned she'd won.
"They are really nice over there," she said.
Despite her work with hopeFound, Fiandaca said she didn't think twice about giving the money to Grace Ministries because it has been her support system since she got clean.
"We'll try and start an addiction ministry," she said. "They used to have one."
Fiandaca said she would like the program to focus on those in recovery and people struggling to stay sober. She would like the program to offer others the type of support she has received.
There is also another reason Fiandaca has a soft spot for Grace Ministries.
"It's where I met my husband," she said.
Married and a mother of a 2-year-old, Fiandaca is also going to North Shore Community College and working hard to keep her life on track.
While Fiandaca shrugs off the award, a spokesman for Bank of America called her a role model, confidante and an artist that brings beauty into the lives of homeless women recovering from addiction.
"I'm just me," Fiandaca said. "I do whatever to give back and I'm being rewarded for it. But I'm just me."