A noticeably frail Bill Clinton appeared unsteady and struggled to speak during the groundbreaking of a new $18 million men\u2019s addiction facility in Brooklyn Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
The 79-year-old former president made a rare public appearance in Crown Heights, joining local officials and community members to mark the expansion and renovation of Anchor House Men\u2019s Addiction Rehabilitation Facility, a faith-based addiction recovery program close to his heart.<\/p>\n
Clinton, who has frequently discussed his brother\u2019s struggles with substance abuse, sounded soft and heavily strained as he revisited those experiences during the ceremonial event.<\/p>\n
Bill Clinton appeared unsteady and frail during the groundbreaking of a men\u2019s addiction facility in Brooklyn. REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a brother I\u2019m very proud of who was in rehab four times, was in prison 14 months, and was very near death after battling it for 50 years, almost,\u201d said Clinton, whose head slightly wobbled as he spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just when it seemed that all of our time had gone out, he decided he wanted to live. And there were people there who wanted to help him stay alive,\u201d the ex-prez continued, adding that his brother has remained sober since, calling it \u201ca bigger achievement than anything I ever did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 79-year-old joined local officials to mark the expansion of Anchor House Men\u2019s Addiction Rehabilitation Facility. REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should thank the people who are involved in this work, we should say thank you,\u201d Clinton declared, quipping that he\u2019s needed plenty of second chances \u2013 especially as the oldest person in the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is a place of second chances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The expanded Bergen Street facility will add 10,800 square-feet to boost capacity to 70 beds. REUTERS<\/p>\n
The expanded Bergen Street facility, designed by Urban Architects, will add 10,800 square-feet to boost capacity to 70 beds, with upgraded rooms and new shared spaces for treatment, mental health care and family support services, according to Anchor House.<\/p>\n
The building will also include a courtyard and oversized windows to flood the treatment floors with natural light.<\/p>\n
Clinton sounded soft and heavily strained as he discussed his family\u2019s struggles with substance abuse. REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we stand on sacred ground, not simply to break soil but to disrupt cycles, not simply to build but to restore, not simply to expand the facility, but to expand hope, healing and the future of recovery in Brooklyn, because the crisis before us is not abstract,\u201d Anchor House executive director Alison King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s urgent, it\u2019s local, and it\u2019s deeply human.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A noticeably frail Bill Clinton appeared unsteady and struggled to speak during the groundbreaking of a new $18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13888,10049,98,102,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,58],"class_list":["post-222614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-addiction","tag-bill-clinton","tag-brooklyn","tag-crown-heights","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}