A Billings woman is holding a luggage drive for Montana foster kids, inspired by her progress through the Yellowstone Family Treatment Court.
The Yellowstone Family Treatment Court helps drug and alcohol addicts rehabilitate and get their lives back on track.
Zoeylyn Hilario said she found the court about three years ago after hitting rock bottom.
"Rock bottom is scary," Hilario said. "It's dark. It's cold. When I hit rock bottom, I had just lost my best friend to an overdose."
The death of her friend, along with losing her home and custody of her son, were contributing factors in Hilario's important realization.
"I reached the point in my addiction where it was live or die, you know what I mean?" Hilario said. "At the end, when I started to hit rock bottom, I learned that I no longer wanted to die."
And that's what drove her to find help. She said she knew she was running out of chances to be reunited with her son.
"For me, it was about looking at myself and realizing where things went wrong for me," Hilario said.
Today, Hilario is 1,086 days sober. She started college at Montana State University Billings this week, and her son is back in her custody.
"It's bittersweet," Hilario said. "I think to look back at who I was when I walked into the treatment court and who's staring back at me when I look in the mirror today."
Hilario is still striving towards self-improvement. Her most recent project is a community-wide luggage drive for foster kids who typically don't have bags for their personal belongings when they move from house to house. It's a scenario that Hilario lived herself as a child in the foster system.
"There aren't any better days," Hilario said. "I think they're all hard. It's just hard when you're like 'I don't know where my mom is.'"
So far, the response from the community to her luggage drive has been outstanding. She's already collected an assortment of backpacks, duffle bags, suitcases and more.
"It blew up pretty much overnight I think," Hilario said with a smile. "I didn't think I was going to get anywhere near as many things as I've gotten."
Hilario's Treatment Court Coordinator Sophia Jackson is ecstatic about both the project and Hilario's progress.
"I'm incredibly proud of Zoeylynn," Jackson said. "She has done so much with her mental health and her addiction and even with her parenting. She just continues to grow."
While the collection is already impressive, Hilario said they could always use more. She plans to hold a drop-off event on Sept. 21 at Growing Together located on Grand Avenue, before distributing the bags to Tumbleweed and CPS on Oct. 15.
"There's foster kids all around the country that need these bags," Hilario said. "Just being able to try and offer something to them is important."
For Jackson, she's filled with pride at where Hilario is at these days — a success story that is a Treatment Court dream.
"I love seeing this version of Zoeylyn that is just not afraid to take on challenges, to have setbacks, or to ask for help," Jackson said. "All of these things are what we want for anybody in our community."
