MOTHERS IN CRISIS MARKS 15 YEARS OF ADDICTION INTERVENTION

At first glance, Mary Mathis seems meek and quiet - until she begins
to talk about her grandchildren.

The mere mention of them brings a smile to her face, especially when
she thinks about how close she came to losing them.

The 60-year-old woman, who has eight grandchildren, said she had to
get custody of six of them once her daughter's ability to care for
them was crippled by crack-cocaine addiction seven years ago. Mathis
prayed for a way to keep her family together.

"Family is very important," she said. "I didn't want them to grow up
without knowing where their sisters and brothers were.".

Mathis' prayers were answered when she found support from Mothers in
Crisis, a nonprofit organization that offers support to women
suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. The agency was able to
help her find support for her grandchildren, and it continues to be
hopeful about her youngest daughter.

Mathis is one of hundreds of women who have been helped in the past
15 years by the agency. This week, Mothers in Crisis will celebrate
its anniversary with events and testimonies from families.

Rosalind Tompkins-Whiteside, the agency's founder, said the birth of
her daughter, Janar, helped lead her to a new lifestyle. She shook
her head slightly when she remembered her drug addiction, which began
at 12. For more than 10 years, she partied hard until her daughter,
who is now 19 years old, helped turn her life around.

"It was like a lifeline that God sent to me," she said.
Tompkins-Whiteside said she's been clean for 19 years. "When I say
that, that means something to me because I know how difficult it is.
And I know it means something to others who are struggling with the addiction."

She made it her life's mission to give other women hope that they
could overcome their addictions.

Services have expanded to reach family members as well as the
abusers. There's a women's prison outreach, a teenage-abstinence
program, parenting classes for abusers and more. Tompkins-Whiteside,
who is also pastor of Turning Point International Church, said she
wanted to give more attention to family services because it's not
just the abuser who suffers when the family is there to witness it.

Tompkins-Whiteside said she has come a long way from days when her
philosophy was "life is a party." Now, she celebrates life with
purpose and the joys of her family. She admits the agency hasn't been
able to reach every abuser who needs help, but she said hope is like
a seed for change.

"There's a better life waiting for them, and a life of addiction is
not a life at all,"