Dozens of photos line the walls of John Volken’s Newton office.
The images – about 45 of them – portray visits to African orphanages the Surrey philanthropist gives money to.
A former business tycoon, someone like Volken might be excused if he spent his retirement on a beach in Hawaii, rather than using his own money to run a residential addiction treatment centre.
“It’s just what I do,” he said.
Volken is the driving force behind the $80-million John Volken Academy (JVA) in Newton.
Right now, there are about 50 people trying to rebuild their lives in his academy – and they come from all kinds of backgrounds and families.
“We have the son of a senator, we have a couple sons of billionaires, awesome families. But drugs are in every family, eh?” Volken told the Now-Leader. “When they come on board, they don’t even want to look at you. They’re so down on themselves because even though they used, they didn’t like it. They liked the effect of it, but they felt bad because it’s against their values. They’re stealing and lying and manipulating, they’re using and feel great, afterward they feel bad.”
The change in people is amazing, he added.
“When you see people coming in, they’re really, in a way, dilapidated human beings. They feel bad about themselves, they’re depressed, totally down on themselves and when they graduate they are leaders, they are strong. We don’t change anybody, really, we just take the toxic out of them and they become what they’re meant to do.”
Volken has a simple goal.
It’s about turning “takers into givers.”
Volken is a German immigrant who rose from rags to riches by creating the United Furniture Warehouse chain.
Although he sold his business in 2004 to begin giving back in a big way, his desire to help others actually stems from his childhood.
“I lived in an orphanage for a while. It was fun, I enjoyed it,” recalled Volken. “I had 30 brothers and I always said, ‘One day I’m going to have an orphanage.'”
Today, while he donates to 70 African orphanages every month, he has always imagined opening his own orphanage in Canada. Once he realized that wasn’t going to happen, he looked for other ways to help society.
He spent many nights in Downtown Vancouver handing out sandwiches to people living on the street, but said he quickly discovered there’s no shortage of charities serving food to the vulnerable there.
He recalled asking friends who worked with Salvation Army and Union Gospel Mission what he could do to help.
“They said, ‘life skills.’ Guys, they go through detox centres and they say, ‘Now you’re sober, go get a job.’ But they don’t know how,” Volken said.
And just like that the focus of his philanthropy switched from hunger to addiction.All about ‘life skills’
The City of Surrey approved the first phase of Volken’s “life skills academy” in 2009, and in 2015 a new building was completed that greatly expanded the operation.
Today, it is one of 55 licensed recovery homes in Surrey.
“Those who don’t know better say, ‘Oh, there’s no beds,'” said Volken, who estimated there are hundreds of beds available in Surrey.
Of the 80 licensed spots at JVA, he said, there are roughly 30 beds open right now.
Those in the program help out in the Price Pro store at 6911 King George Boulevard and live in homes next to it. The intensive, long-term addiction program for young adults is modelled around the concept of “therapeutic communities,” said Volken.
“They started in the ’50s,” he said of such communities. “A bunch of drug addicts got together and fixed themselves. They pooled their resources and everything.”
He visited several such sites, which he says people generally stayed at for a minimum of two years. He visited one in Italy that is considered one of the largest therapeutic communities in the world.
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| John Volken at the academy’s opening in 2015 with featured celebrated philosopher Deepak Chopra. |
See also: Volken recovery the ‘real deal’ April 30, 2015
Likewise, JVA is a long-term treatment program and people generally stay two years. And unlike many private facilities that charge exorbitant monthly fees, the JVA charges a $5,000 intake fee and “that’s it,” said Volken.
“The foundation pays for it, I had to sell some buildings to pay for this,” he said. “So it’s probably, as far as the facility is concerned, as good as any high-priced one.”
In addition to the main building, Volken said JVA owns five houses behind it, which works to create a “campus” of recovery.
“One, we’re building for a transitional home for our students. When they leave and graduate, they can live there for cheap and have a job,” he said. “They need to gather strength for about five years.”
The academy also boasts a full-size gym, classrooms, a library, and a garden, among other amenities.
It’s been a rewarding, yet emotional journey, Volken said in reflection.
“We’re dealing with lives, not just changing lives,” he said. “Sometimes that’s tragic. But it’s very rewarding. I have a stack that high of letters, ‘Thank you for saving my life’ or my son’s life or daughter’s life.
“People, quite often, say if it wasn’t for this place, I would be lucky to be in jail, I’d probably be dead.”
Addiction is a “chronic disease” that has killed too many, he added.
“It’s the brain – it needs to be rewired,” Volken said. “And that takes time. There is no magic pill to cure addiction.
“Not yet, anyways.”
Six students graduated from the Volken recovery program on March 4.
Among them was 26-year-old Dylan James MacDonald, who spent 24 months in the Surrey academy.
MacDonald, a former heroin and methamphetamine addict, described the difference in himself as “night and day.”
“It’s pretty much been more than I could’ve imagine, honestly,” he told the Now-Leader at his graduation ceremony. “I kind of came in not really knowing what to expect. I honestly knew very little about this place. All I knew was my life was just a mess and I was going to die very quickly if I didn’t do something.
“I started drinking when I was 16 pretty heavily, then opiates started around 17 or 18,” he added.
MacDonald said he’s undergone “a lot of self-reflecting, a lot of learning to trust people, learning to connect people, and learning to be honest both with myself and with others” during his two years at JVA.
What did he learn?
“I learned, I think, the value of human connection,” he mused. “The value of asking for help, and how crucial that’s going to be for my sobriety and my happiness going forward. I learned about my own personal walls and defences, and the signs and awareness behind when those are acting up. I learned to trust people.”
Two days after his graduation, MacDonald was headed for Australia, to work for at least a year.
“Then we’ll see where life takes me after that,” he said, noting he’s headed to the area near the Great Barrier Reef to work in hospitality.
“Nothing too crazy but my dream is kind of to travel around, so I’m sort of living my dream at this point.”
But it’s not just the students who grow inside the recovery academy’s walls. Volken said he has grown as well.
“I learned compassion, for sure. I learned patience,” Volken mused.
“I don’t expect when a new individual comes in, joining the program, I don’t expect him or her to be a choir boy. They are what they are, the drug influenced them….
“Some people say just lock ’em up and let them get sober. It’s way more than that.”
Files from Bala Yogesh
