SCRANTON, Pa. -- An old bank in Scranton that's been empty for decades finally has a new tenant -- a nonprofit aimed at helping recovering addicts. It's aptly called "The Recovery Bank."
The building on Wyoming Avenue in downtown Scranton hasn't been a bank for decades, but now the old teller window is a computer lab, the corporate offices include a yoga studio, there's a food bank in one of the vaults, and its hallways are an art gallery.
Early next month, the old bank building will reopen as The Recovery Bank. Defense attorney Frank Bolock is heading up the nonprofit that is meant to provide activities and support services to recovering addicts.
Bolock himself has been in recovery for 30 years.
"People end up sometimes going to treatment, or have an awakening and enter recovery, and sometimes people think, 'That's it, they're fixed, they're cured.' We know, and the evidence is that recovery is not an event, it's a process, an ongoing process, our peer-to-peer recovery support center is just one piece of that," Bolock said.
The Recovery Bank is funded by grants from two health care organizations which are also opening similar centers in Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Wyoming Counties.
The centers are mostly run by volunteers.
Tim Calpin is in recovery, too, and plans to help out here throughout the week.
"I hope I can play my own little role here. I help out with tech stuff, computer stuff, that's what I do for work," said Calpin. "Staying sober is really difficult, I know firsthand just how difficult that can be, so if we can help other people do that, again by showing them it's not this world of restrictions, it's really opening up a world of possibilities."