One year later: the impact of a sober living community in San Marcos

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) -- A sober living apartment complex recently celebrated its one year anniversary. Stephanie Ramirez Pelletier, The Vibe San Marcos founder, said they've helped people enroll in college, get their children back and stay alcohol and drug-free. "I don't know that many of them had a home prior to this," Pelletier said. [...]

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) -- A sober living apartment complex recently celebrated its one year anniversary.

Stephanie Ramirez Pelletier, The Vibe San Marcos founder, said they've helped people enroll in college, get their children back and stay alcohol and drug-free.

"I don't know that many of them had a home prior to this," Pelletier said.

The Vibe opened as a place for people with at least a year of sobriety. Pelletier is seven years sober herself.

"We highly encourage everybody to go to DAA," Pelletier said. "They just walk down together, and it's at the coffee shop. It's Drug Addicts Anonymous."

Since opening, they've expanded from two to nine apartments and house a dozen men and women total.

"We have two women who've gotten their kids back. We have two people who've gone back to school," Pelletier said.

Pelletier said people are thriving beyond what she could've imagined. Residents have started their own garden.

"The fact that they are planting on their own and keeping them alive for a year," Pelletier said. "It speaks a lot about their own recovery."

In the coming months, Pelletier plans to complete work on eight more units so they can help even more people along this journey.

"One day at a time. We're going to help one person at a time," Pelletier said. "We're going to make one bed at a time."

'Build a home and a life'

Michael Boyd moved in seven months ago.

He said he bounced in and out of recovery for a while and never found a place that quite fit until now.

"A place to build a home and a life and feel kind of normal and not be stuck in the stigma of addict, but recovering human."

Michael Boyd, Resident at The Vibe

Since moving, Boyd said he's grown as a man.

"Someone that my mom will call and ask for advice, and just having a reconnection with her," Boyd said. "Her to be able to rely on me to be there for her. My dad would be proud."

Boyd even welcomed a dog into his life named Arlo.

"To be able to take care of another life when I couldn't take care of my own, I attribute that to the family that I've made here," Boyd said.

Boyd said he's built a family at the Vibe that he's eternally grateful for.