Local celebs volunteer art for rehab clinic

Local celebrities, artists and volunteers shared their artwork at the annual art auction and dance performance benefiting Amethyst House on Friday evening. For 22 years, Amethyst House, a non-profit organization, has been helping both men and women who are suffering from substance abuse and other addictive behaviors. \nAmethyst House has already planned what they are going to be doing with the money raised from the event. "We are raising money for the Amethyst House "Out of Ashes" campaign, which is trying to rebuild and expand the men's house, which burned down last February," said Tom Cox, executive director for the organization. The cost of building the new house will be $500,000. Over half of the money has already been acquired to begin the process. \nVarious artists and celebrities from around Bloomington donated pieces consisting of pottery, photographs, paintings, crafts and poems by a New York City Fireman. The long list of artists included such distinguished individuals as Dean McKaig, who donated a hand painted treasure box, and Stuart and Cathi Norton, who donated a painted teapot.\nDuring the silent auction, people could speak with members of the Amethyst House and recovered victims of alcohol and drug abuse. One such representative was Eric Gann, who lived in the house from October 2001 until February of this year. Eric was one of those who has turned his life around and made a full recovery from substance abuse. \n"My life has changed in a thousand different ways for the good since living in the Amethyst House," he said.\nThe evening was shared in part by the Monroe County chapter of the Indiana Addictions Issues Coalitions. Leslie Leasure, a member of the coalition represented the organization and spoke with guests about the importance of educating the public about addictions.\n"There is a lot of stigma against people that are both suffering from drug addiction and those that are recovering from it and what we do is work to reduce that stigma," Leasure said.\nThe benefit continued into the evening with dance performances by the Indiana Dance Theatre. The dances, choreographed by Diane Buzzell, consisted of four stories, "The Story of Death," "The Story of Struggle," "The Story of Survival," and "The Story of Hope." In order to inform guests about addiction, each dance was preceded by a speech from a recovered victim who shared a story about their experience with Amethyst House.\nAfter the dance performance, people continued place bids on the artwork. The evening concluded with musical performances of popular 19th and 20th century music by the group Mitten.