Scholarship started to help rehab patients
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By ERIN ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star
It was the same story, different verse for Jim Robinson.
Another penniless person asking for help to kick a drug and alcohol habit. Another person told to hang in there for two, four even six months, until a spot opened up in one of the publicly funded treatment programs.
He knew society might as well have handed the drunk a new bottle of booze, the addict a baggie of drug de jour.
Donations to the Misty Smith-Luebbert Memorial Scholarship Fund can be sent to First Step Wellness Services at First Step Recovery Center, 210 Gateway, Suite 342 Greentree Court, Lincoln, NE 68505.
Donations may be made by check or credit card. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call First Step at 434-2730.
When a person decides to seek treatment for substance abuse, they are ready now — they need it now, said Robinson, director of addiction services at First Step Recovery & Wellness Center.
Frequently, they don’t have the money to pay for treatment. They no longer have a job or insurance or even a home.
Two, three, four months down the road you may not find them, and most likely they will have changed their minds about getting sober.
“What would Misty do,” Robinson asked himself one day.
Then it dawned on him. Misty Smith-Luebbert, the passionate counselor who worked with substance abusing adolescents, who cried over their sad stories and family struggles — that Misty would have found a way to get these people treatment regardless of their ability to pay.
But Misty was gone. She died Mother’s Day 2006 after the car she was sitting in was hit from behind by an intoxicated driver — just two days after earning full licensure as a mental health and substance abuse counselor, two months before her baby was due.
Then Robinson had an inspiration — why not create a treatment scholarship program in Misty’s name? People could donate money. First Step would match the funds.
He shared the idea with First Step employees and its board of directors. Together they put together enough donations to fund three scholarships.
This week, First Step went public with its Misty Smith-Luebbert Memorial Scholarship Foundation.
The first donation — a check for $1,000 — came from Misty’s husband, Dan Luebbert, and 18-month-old Jayden Darlene, the baby delivered by Caesarean section shortly after the car accident.
“I think it is fantastic,” Dan Luebbert said. “I’m all for it.”
On any given day in Lincoln-Lancaster County, 296 people are on waiting lists for drug and alcohol treatment programs. Those are the people who already have paid the $35 to $195 needed for the substance abuse evaluation required before being accepted into treatment.
After the evaluation, many are told it will be an eight- to 16-week wait.
But no one knows how many more substance abusers cannot even afford the evaluation to get on the waiting list, Robinson said.
Meg Daugherty, a case manager at Fresh Start Home, a program to help women become self-sufficient, recounted the recent story of a woman who came to her agency for help. The woman was homeless, jobless and living at the People’s City Mission. She knew she was an addict and wanted to get better.
But she didn’t have the money for the evaluation, and she hadn’t completed an initial treatment program, as required by Fresh Start. She had nowhere to go but back to the mission, find a job and perhaps save enough money to pay for her addiction assessment.
Maybe, Daugherty will see her again.
But more likely, she will not.
The Misty Smith-Luebbert Memorial Scholarship program will save some people from slipping back through the cracks, according to Robinson. Just how many depends on outside contributions.
A $50 donation will cover the cost of treatment materials; $600 will pay for treatment costs when matched by First Step, Robinson said.
One hundred percent of the donations will be used for direct client services, he said.
“We, her family at First Step Recovery & Wellness, are asking you (the public) to help us continue the ongoing work that Misty dedicated herself to in life,” he said in a press release. “If you knew her as we did, you’d know what we know — everyone deserves a second chance.”
Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.
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