Thank you for joining us at the 8th annual Roots of Recovery!
After seven years as a luncheon fundraiser, we were proud to welcome guests to the first ever Roots of Recovery Gala on May 31.
We came together 371-attendees strong at the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit to celebrate the many ways that ETS participants and staff move mountains for recovery. With the dedication of ETS supporters, we raised $313,972 for evidence-informed treatment for opioid use disorder and street-based outreach. THANK YOU!
As supporters arrived at the event, we enjoyed two signature mocktails, bid on silent auction items, and admired the impressive dessert table (more on that later). Seattle-based neo-soul band Push4Love serenaded the mocktail hour until the dinner program began.
Moving Mountains
Throughout the evening, guests celebrated Moving Mountains. At ETS, we know recovery is not a straight line to a destination—it’s a lifelong journey with milestones determined person by person. Our clients move mountains to make changes that work for them, and we’ve walked alongside our participants for more than 50 years.
CEO Steve Woolworth shared an update about ETS’s operations in the face of funding challenges and instability from the federal administration. “We’ve seen our fair share of difficulties in our five decades of operation, and despite these obstacles, we continue showing up for our neighbors with lifesaving care.”
In 2024, ETS served more than 13,000 individuals across 312 zip codes. “We are under no illusions about how challenging the road ahead is going to be for organizations like us,” Steve shared. “We have already lost millions of federal capital dollars due to the politics of disruption and proposed reductions to Medicaid and homeless services threaten to further undermine the moral foundations of a decent and just society. But I assure you, we will persist.”
At this year’s event, we debuted ETS’s latest video featuring staff and participants who share what access to treatment and street-based outreach looks like in action. Watch the video below!
Evergreen Trailblazer Award: Suzanne Hittman
Our work is done in community, and we do not walk this trek alone. At this year’s event, ETS was pleased to honor Suzanne Hittman with the Evergreen Trailblazer Award. We were fortunate enough to cross paths with Suzanne in 2017 after she read about ETS in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Years later, Suzanne remains a champion of our work. Suzanne has served on the campaign cabinet for the redevelopment of our largest clinic site in SODO and most recently became the first individual donor to the campaign, making a generous gift of $500,000! You can read more about Suzanne here.
Testimonial: Maria Nevratakis
We were honored to learn what moving mountains means to ETS participant Maria Nevratakis. Maria began living on the street at the age of 12, fleeing an abusive home life. She spent decades in and out of use. She lost friends, lost custody of her children, and struggled to stop her use.
In 2012, Maria connected with REACH. She is now stably housed and about to celebrate five years without using. Maria has reconnected with her family and is proud to be there for her children, mother, and sister. “My life doesn’t look like that anymore, and I want other people to know that they can do it too.” Read more about Maria’s recovery journey here.
Standing in Community
ETS staff led us in a reflection honoring the many ways that substance use and homelessness touch all of us. Whether reflecting on our own journeys, remembering a friend or family member, or recognizing our neighbors who are so often treated like they’re invisible, we lit candles to stand together in solidarity. Together, we can move mountains for recovery.
Co-emcee Sasha Summer Cousineau led us in a lively paddle raise to support ETS’s lifesaving work. Seventeen generous attendees became part of our GEM program—Give Every Month—to support our mission monthly.
We rounded out the evening with a dessert dash where representatives from each table took turns “dashing” for their dessert of choice. The competition was fierce!
Thank you to our ETS community for coming together in support of recovery. The increase of deadly fentanyl, the affordable housing crisis, harmful stigma, and an uptick in homelessness make the path of recovery from substance use disorders especially steep. But our participants are not alone. Thanks to the generosity of people like you, we can and will continue to show up for evidence-informed treatment and street-based outreach.
Roots of Recovery at a Glance
Missed the event? There’s still time to give!
Help support ETS and the people they serve by donating online or sending checks to:
Evergreen Treatment Services, Attn: Development
4634 E Marginal Way S, Suite C110
Seattle, WA 98134.
Help us move mountains, together.
