DRUG CENTER ADDITION WOULD HELP WOMEN

Greg Hammond can't forget the morning six months ago when a prostitute
flagged him down as he drove to work.

As Hammond passed her, he watched a man beckon her and the woman disappear
into a house.

The incident re-energized his search for a way to help drug-abusing women,
such as some of the prostitutes who walk Pine Manor's streets. Hammond is
the Lee County director of Teen Challenge, a national, faith-based drug
rehabilitation program.

Recently, his wish came true. HOW TO HELP For more information, call
275-1974. To make a donation, mail it to P.O. Box 60802, Fort Myers, FL.,
33906

A Teen Challenge board member and local businessman Bruce Hepp recently
sold two duplexes and a single-family home to the group. Hepp and wife
Marie kicked in the first $50,000 themselves.

The organization must raise another $145,000 to complete the purchase and
renovations. The new women's center will accommodate up to 18 people.

Teen Challenge came to Lee County nine years ago. Hammond and his staff
operate a cozy 42-bed campus in the Pine Manor neighborhood where men work,
study and pray their way away from drugs and back into mainstream society.
Ideally, they'll spend a year in the program.

But statewide, Teen Challenge lacks services for women. There are just 12
beds in Florida for women over age 18.

"They're strung out on drugs," Hammond said of some of the women he's seen.
"They need help. They need to get their lives back on track."

The new center also will be located in Pine Manor. Hammond hopes to open it
this spring.

David Wilkerson, a small-town Pennsylvania preacher, established Teen
Challenge in 1958 in response to a highly publicized trial of several New
York City teenagers accused of murder. In the years since, the organization
spread internationally and its mission grew to include adults.

In Lee, Teen Challenge primarily works with adults, although staff members
regularly visit young people in places such as the juvenile detention
center and in troubled neighborhoods throughout the county.

Independent studies suggest that 86 percent of those who finish the
year-long program have stayed drug-free for at least six years.

Steve Carey, 46, hopes to be included in that statistic. He's been through
rehabilitation programs before but says this is the only one that's working.

"It's not only changed my outlook on the future, but it's changed my
relationship with Christ," Carey said.

He and his wife, Mandy, hope they can help others once Carey finishes the
program. She hopes to pursue a degree in Christian counseling, Carey said.

Michael Goldfuss is glad to see Teen Challenge expanding. Goldfuss, 24, is
halfway through the program. His drug-addicted father introduced him to
drugs and alcohol when he was about 12 years old. Goldfuss has fought his
addictions since.

"It's been a blessing," Goldfuss said of the program. "Everything has been
renewed. My family wants to talk to me and deal with me now."

He plans to reunite with his fiancee and 8-month-old daughter when he
completes his rehabilitation.

"Everything is going great. I have a peace inside me," Goldfuss said. "I'm
the happiest I've been in my life.