ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Two organizations came together Saturday morning to repurpose an area often attributed to heavy drug use.

Every Sunday, Stephanie Forrester and her organization, Hope Dealers, Be the Change, pick up dirty needles from high drug use areas of the city. Forrester is a former heroin addict herself, like most of those in her organization.

“I had lost custody of my kids, I was prostituting," Forrester said. "I was homeless in these streets, I had nothing left.”

Forrester started the organization last year after her husband overdosed and died 100 days into her sobriety, now going into two years.

“My normal way to deal with grief would be to pick up a substance, and I just didn’t want to do that," Forrester said. "I had lost everything to this disease called addiction I have.”

Her organization offers support and treatment options to individuals struggling with addiction. And while they now clean up the very areas many of them once did drugs.

 “It keeps me grounded in my recovery," Forrester said. "I need to be reminded if I pick up, I’m going to be back here, and I’m probably not going to come back out this time.”

This Sunday was different.

“You can find so much fun and peace in sobriety, and it’s amazing.” Forrester said.

After a thorough cleanup, they partnered with ROCovery Fitness to host the first of several sporting events in the very area they find most of their needles.

 “There’s kids in this neighborhood, there are people who aren’t suffering from this disease in this neighborhood," said Jimmy Kearns, the volunteer coordinator for ROCovery Fitness. "We just want to show people the community is still here, there’s still people who care, and we’re trying to fight this as much as we can.”

Kids like Laseanuel Hardaway, who saw the activity and came out to play himself.

“You get your energy off, probably be tired by the nighttime," Hardaway said. "Go to bed, get some good sleep.”

He says he’s seen too many needles, and too much death.

“Everybody that does drugs out here, they’ll go back in the field and do it, and overdose," Hardaway said. "I see a lot of ambulances and police over here, a lot of people dying.”

However, he says what these organizations are doing makes him feel a little bit safer.

“It’s great, it’s fun," Hardaway said. "And keeps the energy out, and brings peace to the hood.”

Forrester says that's the goal.

“We want to remind Rochester, remind our community, we can change," Forrester said. "We can change this street, we can change people stuck in active addiction, and we just have to come together to do it.”