{"id":26288,"date":"2016-01-27T11:04:47","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T17:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=26288"},"modified":"2016-01-27T11:08:35","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T17:08:35","slug":"choir-finds-harmony-hope-healing-from-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/choir-finds-harmony-hope-healing-from-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Choir finds harmony, hope, healing from addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong> By Brendan Hickey <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">The members of the Harmony, Hope, &amp; Healing choir all have something in common: They struggle with drug addiction and homelessness, they are enrolled or have completed a 12-step recovery program, and they all know Tina Villapando.<br \/>\nKevin Tamila abused drugs for much of his life. After joining Harmony, Hope &amp; Healing and completing his addiction recovery program 10 months ago, he continues to sing with the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can show the newcomers that [recovery] is possible,\u201d Tamila said. \u201cStaying with the group shows me and them that healing is a long process and I look forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve had someone to love me,\u201d said Debra Taylor, a member who has struggled with addiction, holds back tears. \u201cNow when I sing, I\u2019m singing Christ\u2019s words. There isn\u2019t anybody who can love you as much as He does. And that\u2019s how I started to love myself again.<\/p>\n<p>Harmony, Hope, &amp; Healing is a nonprofit organization with the mission to help Chicagoans experiencing drug addiction and homelessness enter a sober, productive and meaningful life through the power of music. Villapando is one of two full-time employees that assists these Chicagoans in recovery.<\/p>\n<p>The organization is most publicly known as a choir. The strict recovery and sobriety requirements lead to regular fluctuation in the choir\u2019s size. Remarkably, it is not uncommon for failed singers to return for second and third attempts at the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though we have all these performances, it\u2019s not about that,\u201d Villapando said. \u201cIt\u2019s finding your voice when it\u2019s been silenced in so many ways \u2013 whether it be by yourself, whether it be by others, whether it be by your circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Villapando calls the choir as \u201cthe public face of Harmony, Hope &amp; Healing,\u201d because a large part of the nonprofit\u2019s work happens behind closed doors. She has spent the majority of her tenure with the program helping women rediscover how to interact with their children after experiencing long periods of a drug-addicted lifestyle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing parents reunite with their children and learning those parenting skills again sometimes is tough work and is sometimes a challenge,\u201d Villapando said. \u201cBut when you get that moment when there\u2019s bonding, it\u2019s beautiful, and it\u2019s through music and it\u2019s through singing and using their voice in a positive way and you see them being with each other\u2014 those are beautiful moments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program was founded by Marge Nykaza in 2000 and operated on a small scale until it was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2003. Nykaza was diagnosed with cancer shortly after employing Villapando as an intern, and left the organization largely in her control as she healed.<\/p>\n<p>Nykaza remembers this period as a critical point for Harmony, Hope and Healing. \u201cWhile I\u2019m having all of these health issues and going forward with surgery, and chemo and radiation, she assisted me so that the work could continue. While personally it was one of my most difficult times, it was a great year for our program. She\u2019s a blessing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Villapando has now been with Harmony, Hope &amp; Healing for five years and loves her new promotion and title: program director. She says she feel blessed to be part of the organization and that she learns from the people in the program every day. The choir members recognize how the organization has helped them, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am Harmony, Hope &amp; Healing, and so are you,\u201d said Amanda Brown Longe Asque, a singer with the program. \u201cWe are Harmony, Hope &amp; Healing, and so is Tina Villapando.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Harmony, Hope and Healing Choir rehearses before Sunday Mass at St. Josaphat Catholic Church\u00a0in Lincoln Park.\u00a0\u00a0(Brendan Hickey\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brendan Hickey The members of the Harmony, Hope, &amp; Healing choir all have something in common: They struggle with drug addiction and homelessness, they are enrolled or have completed a 12-step recovery program, and they all know Tina Villapando. Kevin Tamila abused drugs for much of his life. After joining Harmony, Hope &amp; Healing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":26294,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,675,585],"tags":[1003,1002,1004],"class_list":["post-26288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-addiction","tag-choir","tag-drugs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Choir finds harmony, hope, healing from addiction - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/choir-finds-harmony-hope-healing-from-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choir finds harmony, hope, healing from addiction - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Brendan Hickey The members of the Harmony, Hope, &amp; Healing choir all have something in common: They struggle with drug addiction and homelessness, they are enrolled or have completed a 12-step recovery program, and they all know Tina Villapando. Kevin Tamila abused drugs for much of his life. 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