“Freedom Lighthouse” project turning shipping containers into temporary homes for recovering addicts

 WAVELAND, Miss. (WXXV) — Escape Addiction in Waveland is an outpatient counseling center that aims to help individuals do just that.

News 25’s Lorraine Weiskopf caught up with the founder to learn more about the center and a new project he’s starting called the Freedom Lighthouse.

Jared Bourgeois, founder of Escape Addiction and the Freedom Lighthouse says, “Addicts aren’t going to listen to anybody that hasn’t been through it. From my own treatment and with anybody I’ve ever worked with, one of the first things they want to know is ‘do you really know my struggle?’ and I can say ‘yeah I do.'”

Bourgeois believes his calling is to help others overcome their struggles with the knowledge he’s gained from overcoming his own. He was an addict for 17 years.

“We burned people over and over with our behavior and people would try to help us and reach out their hand and we would burn them again. There’s a stigma about addicts and I realize why it’s there and to really tackle the stigma about addictions, there’s a lot of unconditional love and forgiveness that has to take place.”

Jared is also about to begin operating the Freedom Lighthouse for men. He’s making living quarters out of old shipping containers that’ll provide secondary treatment to those coming from in patient rehab, jail or prison.

In less than two weeks, shipping containers will be transformed into a bunk house offering transitional living to up to four men, so they can have a structured environment while getting back into the workforce.

“Were going to train them in certain skills. We’re going to help them get jobs were going to teach how to prepare them for interviews them dress them and do mock interviews before they even go in for job interviews.”

The goal is to change the entire community for the better.

Bourgeois says, “If I do my best and give everybody my best shot that walks through this door it will affect so many people around them even if it’s just one person. It’s a family disease. so if this person start bettering themselves and putting God first it’s going to spill over and going to help everybody else around them grow and become better versions of themselves.”