EIZER times
$1.00/ ISSUE
Vol. 43 • No. 21
MARCH 11, 2022
Keizer Couple offers hope
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
Drug and alcohol addiction ruins
people’s lives, but that doesn’t have
to be the end of the story. With the
right kind of assistance, at the right
time, almost anyone’s life can be
turned around and put back on track.
Keizer couple Eric Rasor and
Victoria Meredith are providing just
that kind of assistance to people
in Marion County who are recover-
ing from substance addiction. They
have been operating Soaring Heights
Recovery Homes since 2018, offering
transitional housing and peer sup-
port to people already in a recovery
or treatment program.
“We work with community agen-
cies who can provide the services
that we need to bring them in,”
said Rasor, president of the Soaring
Heights non-profit, which operates
two homes in Keizer and Salem. “For
example, we might have somebody
that came from Bridgeway (Recovery
Services). So they are doing treat-
ment with Bridgeway in Salem, but
they have a safe, secure environment
to live in with us.”
The Keizer home, which they
dubbed the Oriole House, is transi-
tional housing for women. One of the
goals is to reunify parents with chil-
dren who might be in custody or who
have been taken away from the par-
ent as a result of their prior conduct.
“I was a mother, a wife, my hus-
band bought a home – we both had
careers,” said Amy Bauldree, a former
resident at Oriole House. “I had a lot
of medical issues – I was put on pain
management … that became an addic-
tion, and I began using heroin.”
“My addiction just got worse and
worse,” she said. “We ended up losing
our home. I ended up losing my son
to my mother, my husband—we got a
divorce, I lost everything.”
At the lowest point in her addic-
tion, Bauldree was diagnosed with
heart failure as a result of heroin
and methamphetamine use, and
she nearly died. Then she discov-
ered Soaring Heights and the Oriole
House.
“I was able to have the support of
other women in learning how to live
again, how to be responsible, and it
helped save my life,” said Bauldree,
who worked as a house leader at
Oriole during her own transition. “I
got my son back, I live in my own
place now, I have a job – I’m a func-
tioning adult in society. It’s been a
long road to clean all that up but it’s
been worth it.”
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SUBSCRIBER ADDRESS :
Victoria Meredith, left, and Eric Rasor, right.
PHOTO COURTESY ERIC RASOR