Cori O’Steen felt helpless as her daughter battled drug addiction. Then a tattoo helped her turn her family’s personal pain into a much larger purpose—using her eBay business and voice to raise awareness and support for free, long-term addiction recovery centers.
“I thought about my daughter and her tattooed message of hope—three little birds from the Bob Marley song, ‘My burning sun will someday rise’ (from Doin’ Time by Sublime), a Lotus flower growing from muddy water, arrows on her fingers reminding her to keep moving forward. And I realized this flood of thoughts was my calling to do something to help those in need,” said Cori O’Steen, founder and CFO, Upaknship.
Proceeds from the sale of Upaknship’s Recovery Tattoo mailers are helping establish two free, long-term centers in Cori’s community—and her vision is that these vital recovery resources will be available to serve people in need in communities everywhere.
“Addiction should be termed a national emergency. Almost half the people that die every day are dying from drug-related deaths. That’s an emergency,” she said.
