Cherry was featured in a Sunshine Story back in December 2023, when she was still searching for a job. Prevention Point Philadelphia (PPP) is now proud to call her a staff member in our Housing Services department!
Cherry Pieters tells everyone that Prevention Point Philadelphia (PPP) saved her life. Now it’s her turn to do the saving.
Three years into her sobriety, Cherry recently took a job as a support staff in PPP’s housing department.
“I just got an awesome job with the people who were there for me when my family couldn’t be,” says Cherry, 42. “Literally, PPP saved my life. They’re my family.”
Cherry first learned about PPP five years ago, when she was living on the streets of Kensington and struggling with opioid use. She initially avoided its staffers and its programs, unable to imagine an organization providing services without conditions.
Then one cold day, she needed coffee. Prevention Point provided it. She began visiting regularly, seeking warmth in winter and food when she was hungry. When she developed infections in both arms and legs, she came to PPP to fill prescriptions.
“They called me by my name and said, ‘Hey. How’s it going?’ That’s a big deal,” Cherry says. “They were happy to see (me) and it was like, ‘OK, I’m a person.’”
Since becoming sober, Cherry has become a certified peer specialist. She hopes PPP’s current clients see her as a role model.
“I’m the participants’ peer. I’ve been where they have been and I’m going to help guide them and support them,” Cherry says, adding that it thrills her to be “an advocate for people who are forgotten.”
She also hopes to inspire PPP’s hardworking staff.
“I want to give hope to the people who work here,” she says. “They’re not doing this in vain. Every day that I show up, I’m proving that it can be done.”
That said, she doesn’t want anyone to believe that sobriety is easy.
“Recovery can feel fragile, and I always feel supported here. It’s like the perfect job. Who can say that?”