Faith Hope and Love Church of God In Christ plans to transform a home it owns at 1405 W. County Road 200S in Columbus into a faith-based transitional living facility for women released from jail and in recovery from substance abuse and addiction.
The property currently is being used as a child care facility. Organizers hope the project could be completed by next year.
The Rev. Mike Harris, the church’s pastor, talked briefly about the idea last week while promoting the church’s free Fresh Start anti-drug event set for Aug. 17 at the local Ninth Street Park. The new facility is just another step in the church’s effort to fight the local opioid epidemic, Harris said.
He mentioned that because the structure would house only six to eight women at a time, no rezoning would be required from its current residential designation. But he said church leaders have been in touch with planning and zoning officials nonetheless.
“We have seen that the biggest problem with (addicted) people is not when they’re incarcerated,” Harris. “At that time, they seem to be doing OK. It’s when they get out that there are problems.”
The Elizabethtown-based church already is involved in helping those in recovery in other ways. In October, Faith Hope and Love volunteers began serving a meal at the local Recovery Center on McKinley Avenue the third Wednesday of each month, Harris said. And it launched a ministry at the Bartholomew County Jail in September.
“We’re excited about this (new facility),” Harris said, adding that planning on the idea began about 18 months ago.
Harris said the facility will need about $50,000 in funding annually, which the church currently does not have. For now, he said the church is seeking grants, donations and other support. The church plans to make the facility nonprofit.
Harris and Minister Phil Murray from the church’s jail outreach ministry emphasized that the building would be what is known as a Level I facility, housing nonviolent women who can care for themselves and who represent the least severe cases of addiction.
The women at the house would be required to work full-time (with people taking them to work and returning them home), pay a fee for the Christ-centered, addiction-related programs offered at the home, show progress in their recovery and could stay as long as nine months, according to Harris and Murray.
The facility also will have a supervisor to oversee its operation and security. Though the church is relatively small with a weekly attendance of about 60 people, Harris said its attendees including two licensed life coaches and others with experience that can be used at the transitional site.
Murray is among those with related experience, having helped organize two previous transitional facilities in other cities.
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Where: 1405 W. County Road 200S, already owned by Faith Hope and Love Church of God In Christ
Why: To help women in addiction recovery successfully transition from jail to daily working life
Information: The Rev. Mike Harris at 812-371-8624 or Minister Phil Murray at 812-344-8233.
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