Announcing Our Newest Partnership: Party Sober

I’ve talked about my sobriety journey a lot in this blog, but I don’t think I’ve ever discussed how hard it is to stay sober in a culture where drinking is so prevalent. The next time you’re out, anywhere, take a minute to notice whether alcohol is being sold. Chances are it is. When my husband and I quit drinking, we used to joke that the only places we could go to avoid alcohol were the movie theater and church. Well, scratch one of those off the list now. You can buy wine and beer everywhere, even at the movies and your local pharmacy.

Another issue in achieving long term sobriety is finding other people you can hang out with and find fun things to do that won’t threaten your sobriety. As our Chair Deborah Keyser often says, “If the only social activity I had to look forward to for the rest of my life was sitting in a 12-step group, I would jump off the roof.” Having a community of people who can support you and who you can have fun with is essential if you want sobriety to stick.

These issues are what led Justice Forward and several other local nonprofits to form the Party Sober Partnership. We are a group of eight nonprofits seeking to create a safe and fun community for our program graduates by hosting free social events. We hope that these events will promote long term sobriety and reduce social isolation and hopelessness. Our group will schedule events during holidays or big events typically associated with partying. 

To kick off 2022, we are hosting a Chili Cookoff and Cornbread Contest on February 26^th. This free event will be from noon to 4:00 p.m. at the Fair Haven United Methodist Church, 1330 Gessner Rd. Children are welcome. Cookoff teams and guests must register at www.htownsoberchilicookoff.com.

We started with this event to coincide with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s Bar-B-Que Contest, which starts on the same day. We wanted to give our clients a sober alternative to that raucous event. This will be the first of many other events that the Party Sober Partnership will host. All the partner nonprofits will announce subsequent events on their social media sites and websites going forward—if you don’t already, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on Party Sober happenings.

I would like to thank the leaders of our partner organizations for their dedication to this mission of creating a recovery community of graduates: Angela House, Council on Recovery, Mercy Street, Open Door Mission, The Phoenix, Recenter and Santa Maria Hostel. Together we are stronger, more effective and can create a large supportive community for our amazing graduates.