Living Free Health and Fitness is an organization with a singular mission – helping people with addictions reach recovery and stay sober – but there are many facets involved in that mission. From sober living homes and outpatient treatment programming to a focus on personal health and future employment, this organization attacks the issue of addiction from all sides. And following a night of fundraising at the 4th Annual Art for Recovery, Living Free is well positioned to continue its work of bettering the lives of those battling this disease.
Art for Recovery took place Saturday, March 14, at the Pahrump Nugget Events Center, where a crowd of supporters turned out to make the evening a smashing success. All around the room, there were works of art from a variety of local artists, in an assortment of mediums and styles. Some were paired with gift baskets for the silent auction while others were slated to appear in the live auction, manned by professional auctioneer Ski Censke.
“The event went extremely well,” Living Free founder and CEO Shelley Poerio told the Pahrump Valley Times. “While we had about 20 fewer attendees than 2025, we still saw over 180. The audience was incredibly engaged this year, competitively bidding and driving some prices quite high! Of course, that success is largely driven by Ski of Estate Auctions 411, who donates his talent and time to us each year.”
Aside from the auctions, the evening included a buffet dinner, raffle, entertainment from John Michael Ferrari and Sophie Love and, a major highlight of the event, guest speakers. Included this year were four clients of Living Free, Angelica Jonak, Michael Quattrocchi, Shameka Dickson and Talyn Bratcher, as well as clinician Linnea Siniaho.
“A few years ago, I never imagined I’d be standing here sober, healthy and filled with purpose,” Bratcher told the crowd that evening. “Since graduating from the Living Free program, I have accomplished more than I once thought possible. I now work at Living Free Gym, giving back to the same community that helped save my life. I’m also in school to become a certified personal trainer, building a future rooted in health and service for others.
“Today, I’m not just sober, I’m living. I wake up with purpose and I get to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Talyn continued. “My life looks completely different. I’m healthy. I’m present. I have goals, stability and direction. Most importantly, I have hope and the ability to be a positive example for my child and for others who are just beginning their journey.”
“Living Free didn’t just give me sobriety,” Jonak remarked in her speech. “It gave me dignity. It gave me hope. It gave me a future. I am alive today because this program taught me how to live. How to face myself, how to choose differently and how to believe that I am worth recovery. Everything I have today is because Living Free didn’t give up on me. And because of that, I won’t give up on myself.”
The event also offered attendees the chance to directly support clients just like those who spoke that night, with the newly introduced Recovery Tree.
“Our ‘Recovery Tree’ was adorned with hearts that had dollar values attendees could pay in support of various things. For instance, $12 pays for two 12-step books, $35 pays for personal hygiene goods, $85 supports clothing and food purchases we often make for clients we pick up from jail and admit directly to our housing and treatment,” Poerio detailed.
Between the Recovery Tree, silent and live auctions, 50/50 raffle, donations, tickets and sponsorships, the 4th Annual Art for Recovery netted over $31,000, which will go toward providing services that are not covered by other funding sources.
Throughout 2025, Poerio reported that Living Free served more clients that is has in any previous year, with all 28 of its sober living beds almost constantly filled.
“In our women and children’s program, we had four births of healthy, drug-free babies,” Poerio explained. “And our treatment groups grew to the point that we added an additional clinician and added new intensive outpatient treatment and outpatient groups. While other agencies have closed their doors for various reasons, Living Free stands alone in Nye County as the only state-certified sober housing, the only women and children’s program, the only adolescent outpatient treatment and the only agency to have won a treatment/housing grant through the opioid settlement monies to reserve and deliver treatment and housing beds to frontier Nevadans suffering from opioid use disorder.”
Living Free Health started off with a primary mission of treating addiction and co-occurring disorders, as well as providing sober and transitional housing, but as the organization grew, so too did its vision. Now, Living Free is an umbrella organization that includes two therapeutic workplaces, Living Free Café and Living Free Gym.
“As the agency grew, I realized that a large piece of helping deliver ‘forever recovery’ involved having a job that was supportive, understanding and a clean and sober workspace,” Poerio stated. “Unfortunately, many who come into treatment have no, or specious, work histories and poor, if any, job skills. We started Living Free Café in 2022 as our first therapeutic workplace. We started with a clean and sober environment, several experienced employees and added a number of those newer to recovery who were anxious to be part of something big and transformational. From there it grew. And we could start bringing in the truly ‘unemployable’ to help train them and create valued, productive contributors. Using this same format, we expanded our therapeutic workplace program in 2023 to include Living Free Gym.”
Poerio offered her thanks to a variety of people who helped make the 4th Annual Art for Recovery another triumphant occasion, including Living Free Board of Directors, which put in many hours preparing for the event and Censke for his outstanding auctioneering abilities.
“Each year, the Soroptimist Club supports us by taking tickets, managing the raffle and cashier’s desk and basically handling all of the operational needs for the event, and we truly appreciate their support,” Poerio added. “Thank you to John Michael Ferrari and Sophie Love, managed by Pepper Jay, for the musical entertainment. The audience adored them. Todd and Elena Photography’s photo ‘booth’ is very popular with attendees and Todd and Elena are incredibly generous with their time and resources. Of course, I want to thank Dawn Burkholder and Jason Hilling at the Pahrump Nugget for delivering the best dinner we have ever had and a truly flawless event.”
For more information, visit LivingFreeHealth.org
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
A banner opportunity for businesses
Living Free Health and Fitness is offering area businesses and organizations the opportunity to have a 4-foot by 8-foot advertising banner placed inside of Living Free Gym, funds from which will go toward supporting Living Free’s addiction recovery services.
“Your generous support of our mission will be installed for an entire year inside Living Free Gym which has foot traffic in the hundreds, per day, from a broad demographic of healthy people with a propensity to spend locally,” Living Free announced on its Facebook page this February. “Our supporters are highly committed to our rural town and its small businesses.”
Banners are $1,500 each. For more information or to purchase a banner call Shelley Poerio at 702-600-2527 or Daniel Mills at 725-377-3858.
“If you get voicemail make sure you leave a message,” the two encouraged.
