Raiders great offers addicted teens hope in memory of daughter
Raiders great offers addicted teens hope in memory of daughter
“She was telling me she was only going to go (for) 30 days,” said Biletnikoff, the Hall of Fame Oakland Raiders wide receiver.
Nineteen years after that difficult day, a van carrying six young girls pulled to a stop last week on a country road in Loomis, a small town northeast of Sacramento.
Six girls jumped out and ran to see their new home, a beautifully refurbished residential shelter for teenage girls fighting addiction, domestic violence and sexual abuse.
For Fred Biletnikoff and his wife, Angela, it is a tribute to the daughter whose life, and sudden death, inspired it.
A young woman who beat her addiction, only to become a victim of violence.
After she successfully completed her stay at the Burlingame treatment center, Tracey Biletnikoff became an addiction counselor herself.
“She really couldn’t relate to the other women that well,” said Angela, Tracey’s stepmom.
[...] she started raising funds for a teen center.
Fox Sports Radio host John Tournour, a.k.a. J.T. the Brick, had the idea to pass around cans in the fan parking lot and ask for “Dollars for Tracey.”
“There was a line of Raiders fans with dollar bills up in the air,” Angela said.
[...] funding for the teen-oriented program dried up in 2009, and operator Women’s Recovery Association turned it back into an adult program.
In 2013, Angela met Bill and Camilla Ryland, the directors of Koinonia Homes for Teens, who run five shelters and have a school in Loomis for the boys and girls who live in the shelters.
Local vendors gave them generous discounts and donations — the electrician worked pro bono — when they heard who it was for.
Today, the refurbished home has three bedrooms with two beds each, a large kitchen, dining room, a surround-sound TV room, library, pool, solar roof and every teenage girl’s dream bathroom: two showers, two vanities and six electrical outlets, one for each hair dryer.
The six girls who live there go to school, and then to Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings at night.
Gangs, family drama and abuse.
Last month, the girls from Loomis attended the Raiders’ Youth Empowerment Summit, an event aimed at developing skills and professional behavior in young women.
“Living there provided a safe place for me,” said Dennis, who graduated from UC Berkeley and is now an IT specialist at Kaiser Permanente.
The books she donated “help the healing process,” Dennis said.
Ana and her roommate, 16-year-old Rosie G., both spoke at the grand opening party for Tracey’s Place last month.
The Biletnikoffs have brought other sponsors to see the house, and the girls offer tours and fresh-baked cookies.