As he sat in jail, facing down a 28-year sentence in 2015, Eric Rippy had an idea of creating an opportunity to assist addicts.

"I was being a knucklehead with no plans of changing my ways when I joined a therapeutic community drug rehab class merely for the six month timecut that came with it. While in there, one of the exercises we had to do was write our own eulogy. This was my aha moment, my heat," Rippy told The Putnam County Post. 

Rippy continued, stating that addicts don't change when they see the light but rather when they feel the heat and this was his moment. 

"The fact was I had never done a single thing to leave an ounce of positivity behind if I passed. I began facilitating classes while in there and facilitating nightly recovery meetings in different cell houses. I was hooked. Something about other grown men begging you to help them change their lives, to secure freedom for themselves and their families got to me. So I knew when I was released after a decade, I had to continue the journey," Rippy admitted.  

And, that's what he did, founding Recovery Raw in 2016 and a year later, the organization held its first meeting.

"The primary role of Raw is for us to make it one more week clean, sober, at peace, and continually changing that old way of thinking/victim mentality," Rippy explained.

Rippy notes he makes it clear that he cannot drag others through recovery, but, instead, he walks with them every step of the way. 

"We have secured over a dozen mothers and children back in the household together where they belong, and we have over a dozen regulars with multiple years of sobriety where their journey started right in my room," he said. 

Rippy said in addition to helping addicts, Recovery Raw also benefits the community and county, as a whole. 

"It  helps residents because when we secure children back in the homes they belong in, it is less of a burden on the system and such a joy to the child and parents. Crime goes down, recidivism decreases in our jail and a new joy is filling our community," Rippy said. 

Rippy said he opens his doors to everyone in the community weekly.

"I am not a traditional recovery meeting. I'm raw. I talk about things like forgiveness, empathy, boundaries, parenting and all of the things that help individuals, whether you are in addiction, recovery or have never dealt with either. There is a hot meal provided every single week as I feel that sitting around breaking bread together is such an important gateway to how we bond and heal," Rippy said. 

Over the years, Recovery Raw has grown from just Rippy and four to eight attendees in 2017-18 to a five person committee, a children's program run by Jill Albers and an average of 40-plus attendees a week, along with 12-15 kids.

Recovery Raw has received a donation of land off Veterans Highway and will embark on fundraising to get its own building built. 

"I would like to be running multiple classes and groups once our building is built. Parenting  classes, anger management, addiction and recovery classes and we will be doing back to school events for the community. I'd like to be involved with the summer lunch sack handout for kids that may not get lunch during the summer, we want to do the Christmass giving tree every year, have blood drives and the sky is the limit. I don't know what God has in store for Raw, but each year, He takes us to a new level that is so unimaginable," Rippy said. 

As he continues to make an impact in the lives of others, Rippy never forgets those who impact him.

"None of this would be possible without the support of my wonderful wife, Brooklyn Rippy, my two daughters, Emmy, 4, and Maddy, 8 months, and my soon to be son, Bricksyn. Also, the support of this unimaginable community and these individuals showing up each week putting as much into their recovery as they did their addiction," Rippy said. 

And, he has a message for anyone struggling with addiction and in need of help. 

"My message to anyone facing addiction is that it's not 1990 anymore. It is 2023 and people love you and want you to be the best version of you. If a "stigma" is holding you back, break through and get help. You will be surprised who and how many people will be in your corner," Rippy said. 

Recovery Raw meets every Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Lifebuilder Community Center, 701 East Washington St., Greencastle. For more information, email Rippy at recoveryrawputnamcounty@gmail.com.