Hear Cynthia Hawkins on stage and you'd never know that eight years ago she was addicted to cocaine.

"I didn't want to continue the way I was living because I knew that death was right around the corner," she said after a performance with the TROSA Band. "I was in a homeless shelter. My family - at one point - thought I was dead. They put fliers out for me. Addiction robs you of everything."

It robbed her of many things. But it spared her voice. Now, five years after she enrolled in the Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, that instrument serves as an inspiration for others.

"I love to perform. I love to entertain. It's my passion," Cynthia said. "It's an outlet for me and I just love it."

Most who hear Cynthia and her six band members might never know their stories: former addicts now inspiring the community through talent.

"If you told me 20 years ago that I would be where I'm out right now with a band, I would have called you crazy," said Johnny Gervasio. "When I was 35 I was uneducated [with an] eighth grade education; [a] Heroin addict for 20 years.

Johnny went through a program similar to TROSA in California. Now, he is operations manager for the TROSA moving company. In this two year therapeutic community in Durham, there are several jobs like this. As addicts recover, they learn new skills like lawn care or food service.

"It's taken me a long time, but I run a company that's taking in 25 to 30 jobs a day," Johnny said. "Right now, we're the largest independent moving company in the state. We teach people how to care about each other."

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TROSA has been around since 1994. There are now 386 residents living here who are in the first two years of the program. There's also an aftercare initiative, in which 120 people are taking part. About 50 percent of TROSA residents have been to prison.

"A lot of people here have never worked," said Michael Keene, Vice President of Business Operations at TROSA. "I think the whole language in drug treatment is different. I think that people are. I think the young today are listening."

E-mail Josh Green, NBC 17 News Reporter: jgreen@wncn.com