Recovering addict from Bryan hopes to open nonprofit recovery center to help others overcome their addiction

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - A modest resale shop sits right off Highway 21. It’s called Socorro’s, which is Spanish for help. It’s the place where a Bryan man, who’s a recovering addict, first started helping people fighting the same battles he fought.

Juan Cruz hopes to help those same people even more by opening a nonprofit recovery center there in the near future, where recovering addicts can come to participate in alcoholics anonymous or narcotics anonymous meetings, among other services.

“It came as a vision to me one day,” Cruz said. “I said my mom used to help a lot of people out, and I think she would love me to go ahead and keep it going like that.”

Cruz, who is 52 years old, says he was addicted to drugs and alcohol for 40 years. His troubles contributed to his criminal record before he hit rock bottom.

“I didn’t want to live. I hated everything,” Cruz said. “Like today is a nice sunny day, it’s a beautiful day out here, and I would say, ‘Man, what’s so beautiful about it?’ It’s terrible what drugs do to a person. That was my goal in life, just to get up in the morning and do the same thing over again. People say it’s insanity, doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. That was me.”

When his mother, who the store was named for, died three years ago, Cruz made the real push to turn his life around.

“When my dear mother passed away, I knew there weren’t too many more people in my life,” Cruz said. “When my mom passed away, it took a lot from me. I was already looking for a change.”

Cruz says he had been using for so long, he didn’t know anything different. After overcoming his addiction, he says he’s discovered how beautiful life is for the first time. It’s a feeling that’s completely new to him, causing him to look at life differently now.

“I’m happy every day. Even on my worst day, I’m still happy,” Cruz said. “It’s an amazing feeling. I wish the whole world would have this kind of feeling that I have now. It’s just a joy that surpasses all understanding.”

Cruz’s fiancee, Mary Garcia, says she saw something in him that he wouldn’t be at his lowest point for long. Garcia says she’s grateful Cruz has decided to help people in the same way others have helped him.

“He is very devoted to what he really wanted to do deep inside,” Garcia said. “His integrity has grown in a big way. There aren’t many words I can say that won’t bring me to tears. It’s sort of an unexplainable, out-of-the-box feeling seeing him undergo that change.”

Health for All, a nonprofit free health care clinic in Bryan, played a major role in getting Cruz back on his feet. Executive Director Liz Dickey says the community could really use another recovery resource Cruz is trying to kickstart.

“Particularly as we grow, we’ve seen that need skyrocket,” Dickey said. “I think it would be a great resource in our community if he can successfully do this. I think it’s a difficult field to navigate to start with. You’re working with a patient population that has a lot of barriers to achieving success. Sometimes that’s just lack of a support group.”

Cruz says the people who helped at Health for All were the ones who really started to get him healthy. He says one woman there sounded a lot like his mother in the way she got after him to make the right moves.

“We feel like a proud mama,” Dickey said with a laugh. “We want everybody to be successful, and it doesn’t always happen. We frequently see a lot of patients that have a lot of barriers preventing them from living their best life, so we celebrate whenever we have somebody kind of prove the exception and overcome those barriers. Juan is certainly one of those. He’s battled an addiction and come out the other side, and really become a better person for it. We’re really proud of him.”

Now sober for 14 months, Cruz says he believes helping others is his calling in life.

“The more people I try to help, the better I feel,” Cruz said. “That is very important for me to feel good about what I’m doing. They didn’t give up on me, and I shouldn’t give up on other people. I thank God for all the help that they gave me.”

Cruz says he is still trying to get all the paperwork and permits together to get his nonprofit started. He hopes to have it up and running in the next six months to one year. In the long run, Cruz says he hopes to open up a halfway house.

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