Feb 29, 2016 | By Jake White

I’m Jake White, I Throw Sober House Parties on College Campuses

Collegiate Recovery

jake-white-sober-house-parties

It’s like peanut butter and chain saws, apples and bowling pins, fanny packs and cashmere suits. When I tell people what I do for a living, they think “That CAN’T be right! There’s no way those two go together…”

What’s up Sober Nation?! My name is Jake White. Not Jack White from the White Stripes, but like Jake from State Farm. I run a company called Party.0 (party-point-oh) which throws massive sober parties on college campuses. Our signature “sober house party” attracts hundreds of students each time and 90% of college students we meet join our texting list.

I’m going to be writing for Sober Nation so I thought I’d give you a little background on who I am and the story behind what I do.

I grew up in Wisconsin where people seem to only eat cheese, watch the Packers and accompany everything with beer. I could deal with some cheese and watching the Packers… but beer just wasn’t for me. I saw how many people used alcohol to turn up, wind down or just fit in. And not that I don’t like relaxing, having fun or hanging out with new people… I actually love those things! I just wanted to do them without relying on anything but me. And in college, that made me an outcast.

College came with an expectation to drink on the weekends. You heard about it in class, during lunch and had to listen to hundreds of stories that started with, “I got so wasted last night!” And it seemed like people were just doing it to fit in, because that’s what it takes to have a social life on a college campus.

I decided that the college drinking culture needed a change. So when I was a Junior, my best friend Steve and I started throwing sober house parties… yep, no drugs and no alcohol. I’ll admit that our first event was TERRIBLE. But in less than one month of hosting them, we had more than 150 students coming to our events, sponsorships from brands like Papa Johns and Redbull, and media coverage across our home state of Wisconsin… we couldn’t believe it either!

So we went to other schools to see if it work there too. And we found out that no matter what school we were at, 9 out of 10 students would say “YES” to Party.0! They even gave us their phone number so we could text them about our sober house parties.

Since that time I’ve built a business that helps students host sober events on their campuses. We even come and speak to high school students about having fun without drugs or alcohol and then give them funds to throw their own sober parties.

Right now I’m 24 years old and have been sober for more than 210,000 hours of my life. I’ve been under the influence of alcohol for about 9 hours, just to see what it was like. My mission is to live a life that shows people you don’t need drugs or alcohol to fit in, have fun or feel good.

I’m going to be sharing stories of my successes, failures, doubts, fears, hopes, adventures and all that comes with hosting sober parties with students across the country…

But first, I’d really like to know you. Since I’m new to Sober Nation, please introduce yourself in the comments below and share something about yourself. If you can’t think of anything, answer this:

“If you had just ONE DAY off of school or work for an entire year, what would you do with that day?”

14 responses to “I’m Jake White, I Throw Sober House Parties on College Campuses”

  • Kathy

    8 years ago

    Reply

    I would go hiking. My dream is to hike the appalachian trail!

    • Jake White

      8 years ago

      Reply

      Hi Kathy, that’s awesome! I was in the Appalachian Mountains for my sophomore year internship and it was insanely beautiful… would love to hike the trail as well!

  • Matt J

    8 years ago

    Reply

    Great article Jake! I’d take the day to go backpacking. I have a trip planned for Door County this year, so I’d probably use that day to add onto the trip!

  • Sarah Saivong

    8 years ago

    Reply

    By far sober parties are the best parties! I’m 24 and I’m proud to say I can actually remember what happened at a party. You don’t need drugs to bring people together but maybe some energy drinks or coffee 😉 Good read and nice article, I can’t wait for more to come.

    • Jake White

      8 years ago

      Reply

      Yeah Sarah! One of our strongest supporters is Red Bull, they’d be stoked to know you like to party sober with their energy drinks 😛 And HEY! I’m 24 too!

      • Sarah Saivong

        8 years ago

        Reply

        24 is a great age to party sober 🙂 never too young or old to join and come kick it

  • BOB

    8 years ago

    Reply

    Awesome article!!
    We have a runners In Recovery group out of Boston with members all over the country.
    Also Tri Recovery we swim/bike/run everything from Sprint Triathlons to Ironmans all over the world!!!!
    We are not all AA/NA people but a bunch of people who live life with a passion alcohol and drug free!!

  • Mark Gladden

    8 years ago

    Reply

    Look forward to hearing more stories in your upcoming blog on Sober Nation…Thanks for sharing your story with us! This type of party would have been a challenge for me to attend, but now, my kids are growing up in a Sober House!, so maybe this will stick to them when they get to campus.

    • Jake White

      8 years ago

      Reply

      Thanks Mark, my parents didn’t drink when I was growing up. I think that helped because I didn’t associate alcohol with adulthood. It’s cool you are leading your kids by example!

  • Madelyn

    8 years ago

    Reply

    Hi Jake! You spoke to us at the Youth Encounter Conference this past weekend at the Dells. I really enjoyed listening to you speak and hear your stories about staying sober and about how we shouldn’t conform to the pattern of the world. Through you, I learned that I need to keep my faith first and do what is right. I do not need to conform to what today’s society thinks is right. I need to conform to my own habits of what I believe is right. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to meet an inspiration like you. If I had one day in the whole year to do whatever I wanted, I would probably take a day to myself and go out into nature and give myself to the Lord and let him lead me.

    • Jake White

      8 years ago

      Reply

      That’s amazing Madelyn! I’m so thankful that you grew from the experience 🙂

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