ABOUT ME
I’m Tim and I’m an alcoholic.
My sobriety date is June 10, 1985.
When I was 28 years sober we lost our youngest to drugs and alcohol and I fell apart.
After raging at God for way too long I decided I hadn’t been able to help my own boy, maybe I could help someone else’s. I tried different things and eventually considered a men’s sober living house.
We were empty nesters ready for senior apartments and could remodel our home into 7 private and 2 shared bedrooms with 3 full baths. There’s plenty of parking space. I envisioned every resident having a full size bed and his own refrigerator. We’d furnish Wifi, a community washer and dryer, a chest freezer and everything but toiletries and food.
If I treated men in recovery respectfully, maybe they’d learn to respect themselves again.
We opened April 1st 2021.
My boy found peace and I found a purpose.
God’s hand at work.
ABOUT US
At first Serenity Shack sought grant money to help our guys with rent, took them to food pantries, got them jobs and drove them there and back when possible. It sounded great but we were only 15% or 20% successful.
We were giving men fish instead of teaching them to fish. It needed to come from them.
Today we accept no outside money. If a guy’s mom offers to pay his rent we say we need a commitment from him, not from his mom, and we wait for our rent. We don’t always collect but we help more men than we used to.
We don’t turn guys away who can’t pay.
We don’t put guys out who are past due.
We do put guys out whose stories change.
New guys can have any food left by past residents, our long-timers help our newbies with groceries, restaurants sometimes donate and food pantries are still around.
Residents hold each other accountable for drug screens, chores, meetings, cleanliness, curfew and recovery. Our average sobriety is routinely over a year because guys aren’t in a hurry to leave.
A DL, a vehicle, a job or a job to go back to, or maybe an industry to return to aren’t mandatory for an applicant to be accepted but the more checkmarks applicants have had, the more they’ve prospered here.
Helping men become self reliant has skyrocketed our success rate to 70%.
God’s hand at work again.
ABOUT YOU
Our preference is for everyone to interview at our 6:00 Tuesday night house meeting. If that's not possible, we'd like a phone interview at that time. Call Tim @ 317-626-9203
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Every applicant says he's the guy we're looking for. Some are, some are lying, and some are still lying to themselves. Expect a tough interview.
At Serenity Shack we’re Twelve Steppers. If you’re not, we think you deserve sobriety too but we don’t know how to help you.
Step Three suggests we turn our will and our life over to the care of God, as we understand Him. If you’re not comfortable with the concept of a Deity, we won’t be the right fit for you. It’s not that we don’t want to help agnostics and atheists, we don’t know how.
No alcohol, no drugs, no weapons, no past issues involving kids or sex.
We’ve tried to help guys who've been professionally diagnosed with psychotic disorders but their needs are beyond our abilities.
If we have to make you get a job or go to meetings or get a sponsor, or clean up your messes, you’re not ready for us.
Anger will not be tolerated here.
We’re not big on MATS but we’ll listen.
$165/week for a shared room.
$60 refundable deposit.
Everyone starts in a shared room and moves to a private room by seniority.
If you can pay your rent and buy groceries, I’ll be patient while you look for a job.
If you’re asking to move here on credit, then be ready to get a job immediately. Entry level jobs are out there. Fast food, car washes and Goodwill are nearby places to start at the bottom while you look for something better. I’m not interested in how many applications you’ve put in. I want to know when you start your new job. Please know I’ll put you out if you don’t give your job search your best effort.
If you think God is pushing us together, then fill out the attached form and let me know how to get back to you or your case worker.
God will take it from there.