CHRISTIANS REACH OUT TO ADDICTS IN EASTERN KENTUCKY

PAINTSVILLE, Ky. -- The Christian Appalachian Project announced yesterday
that it plans to invest $1 million to open long-term rehabilitation centers
in Eastern Kentucky to help drug abusers break their addictions. Bill
Mills, president of the ministry that has fed and clothed the poor in
Appalachia for 40 years, said churches and other Christian organizations
are stepping forward to deal with the region's drug problem. "Substance
abuse is a plague upon our Eastern Kentucky communities," he said. "It is
the most dominant and devastating of the problems we face today. We simply
are choosing to be part of the solution." While Christian groups support
the work of federal and state agencies that are working to combat the drug
problem through law enforcement and government-funded treatment centers,
the Rev. Doug Abner said they're also looking for ways to be personally
involved.

They're opening drug rehabilitation centers, taking part in anti-drug
rallies, reaching into their pocketbooks to help pay for detoxification,
starting neighborhood watch programs, monitoring drug cases from
arraignment to sentencing in local courts, and working one-on-one with
recovering addicts to encourage them to stay drug-free.

Soon after prescription drug abuse reached "epidemic" proportions in the
Hazard area, Abner said residents in Perry County opened Joshua's Dream
Foundation, an organization that provides free rehabilitation for drug
addicts. In Clay County, in a show of opposition to drug dealers, 3,500
people from 63 local churches rallied in Manchester last May.

"We repented for being more concerned about our buildings and our programs
than for our people," said Abner, pastor of Community Church in Manchester.
"That went a long way toward changing things. We are seeing the churches
step outside their walls and get involved, which is something we needed to
do forever but didn't."

Marilynn Payson, director of community development for the Christian
Appalachian Project, said her organization historically has worked to help
impoverished people with physical needs, such as food. Payson said
expanding the organization's efforts to help drug addicts is a natural
extension of the organization's work.

"We were started to help remedy the ramifications of poverty, and this is
just one more part of that mission," she said.

Mills said the Christian Appalachian Project will open a prototype women's
drug recovery center in Rockcastle County by the end of this year, which
will transition into a larger recovery center that will open in Martin
County by late 2006.

Mills said his organization will seek donations to cover the startup costs
plus about $500,000 a year in operational expenses.

Besides drug rehabilitation, the Christian Appalachian Project will provide
job training for addicts, teach parenting skills, even teach them to read
and write if necessary. The organization also is encouraging churches to
adopt recovering addicts after they complete rehabilitation to offer
support and encouragement to stay off drugs.

"We want to give them a new lease on life," he said.