Reducing the Stigma Around Addiction and Living Her Dream
The Live Your Dream Awards are all about helping women who have faced economic and personal hardships to live their dreams. Since 1972, the award has provided tens of thousands of women with funding to help them achieve their education and career goals. The program helps women build a better life for themselves and their dependents. Many recipients also enter the serving professions to help their communities. This is the story of one of those women.
“Like big heavy raindrops, life has pounded a series of unfortunate events on me,” writes Karina. “Survival mode is home for me. But today, in the calm, I am strong.”
Karina is 35 years old and lives in Ontario, Canada. A mom to two daughters, ages 2 and 8, she is currently studying nursing and will graduate college next spring. She is goal-driven, smart, and deeply caring.
Karina’s dream is to help people overcome substance use disorder and to reshape the way the world views addiction and domestic violence.
“My main goal of obtaining a higher education is to educate others. I want to change the face of addiction. I want to reduce the stigma that surrounds it.”
Her dream arose out of her own experiences with trauma. She remembers clearly the suffering her father’s alcoholism caused her as a child—which is why it hurt even more when she later entered into a relationship with a heavy drinker whose alcohol use turned him violent.
“As much work as I thought I had done to break the cycle… I experienced the same pain and torture from this man as I did from my father. I thought to myself so many times… how did I end up back at the beginning?”
After her partner assaulted her, Karina knew she had to make a change. She left the relationship and began working toward life she had always dreamed of for herself and her children, starting with her education.
“Going back to school was the first time that I put myself first in a long time,” Karina said.
She began working at a women’s shelter and later, an addiction treatment center, which taught Karina the importance of connecting patients to community services as they battle addiction. Those jobs also fueled her ambition to formally study nursing.
But like many low-income single moms, Karina has faced difficult choices and a labyrinth of challenges.
“Working many tireless jobs and struggling to make ends meet. Struggling to choose between food on the table or gas to get to work. I have to be creative when making meals so my children never have to know there is a lack of food in our home.”
When she applied for the Live Your Dream Awards, Karina was feeling especially anxious about having to soon return to the classroom as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted. Without remote learning, it would be impossible for her to keep working full-time.
“I will have to give up my employment. Where does that leave us? I am terrified. I don’t want to give this up, I want to be able to pursue my dreams not only for me but for my girls.”
Karina applied for the Live Your Dream Awards after discovering the program during an online search for scholarships. From more than 300 applicants in the at-large pool (applicants who don’t live near a Soroptimist club), volunteer judges selected Karina for a first-level $1,000 as well as a second-level $5,000 award. Judges saw Karina’s courage, hard work, and passion for helping others and knew she deserved support.
The award money, which recipients are free to spend how they choose (agency is key for empowerment), will help Karina continue to support her family while pursuing her nursing degree.
Recently, Karina and her daughters went to the grocery store and packed the cart without looking. A small act many of us might take for granted, meant the world to a family that was accustomed to counting every cent.
“This is so much more than a dream. It is the chance to change my daughters’ lives. A chance to give them the ability to want and ask so much more of themselves. To show that anything is possible with a little effort. I appreciate it so much, and so do my girls. Thank you!”
By investing in Karina’s dreams, Soroptimist is helping Karina continue to care for those coping with addiction in her community, and be an amazing role model and mother for her children.
“They say you need to understand where you have come from to know where you are going. I know I grew up in a state of poverty, addiction and abuse. I know that is not where I am headed.”
Help More Women Like Karina Live Their Dreams
Soroptimist relies on the generosity of individuals like you to improve the lives of women like Karina. Your support gives women the help they need to overcome obstacles—like poverty, domestic and sexual violence, and addiction—and follow their education dreams.
Please consider donating. Your gift of $100, $50, or even $10 today will go a long way and will transform the lives of women in need!
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