HOUSE TO BE HOME TO WOMEN RECOVERING FROM DRUG ADDICTION

House to be home to women recovering from drug addiction By Stanley B.
Chambers Jr. The Daily Reflector Inside a white house on the corner of
West Fourth and Latham streets, three rolls of linoleum lie on one
side of what will be the kitchen. Molding has to be put around a
recently installed wall, the floors redone and the banister repainted.

Reminiscent of a home construction project, the 3,800-square-foot
residence soon will become a home for women hoping to change their
lives.

Supporters and potential volunteers attended a fellowship reception
Saturday at the house, named the ZOE Restoration House for Women &
Children. Operated by the nonprofit Take It To The Streets, the house
will offer residents assistance in a holistic approach.

"When you're on the streets with an active addiction, you learn to
relate to people in a certain way," VanHook said. "(Addicts) learn how
to manipulate, read people and use that information to meet needs.
When they get clean, they have to learn a whole new way of dealing
with people, and for a lot of recovering addicts, that doesn't happen.
They're so used to approaching people from (a standpoint of) what they
can get from the person, instead of trying to have win-win
relationships."

Improvements to the home - purchased by a board member and donated to
the organization to be exclusively used for women - have come off and
on for the past three years, mainly due to funding needs and the need
for volunteers.

More than $100,000 has been given to the project, mostly through a HUD
grant managed by the city and monies from the Pitt County Memorial
Hospital Foundation. More work is still needed, such as painting,
carpentry, yardwork and installing and refinishing flooring.
Organizations or individuals can adopt a room by furnishing it,
VanHook said.

Some local religious groups have assisted with the home. N.C. Baptist
Men has donated carpets and supplies, and several local churches have
contributed volunteer time and money.

The two-story, six-bedroom home was built in 1905 and was converted to
apartments at one point. VanHook said the home should be completed by
November, but could be finished much sooner with enough volunteer help.

Residents will be asked to stay at least a year while participating in
self-changing initiatives: setting and pursuing goals, stress and
anger management, conflict resolution, parenting and spiritual classes
and working on personal issues.

Each resident is expected to be employed or taking classes while in
the program.

Potential residents can be referred by mental health centers,
treatment facilities or churches, and they may also apply in person,
VanHook said.

The process includes completing an application, interviews, reviewing
psychological/social history, a criminal background check, drug
testing and possibly personal references. All amenities will be
provided and residents have to pay a weekly fee. Resident sponsorships
may be available based on meeting certain qualifications.

It is unknown at this time how many women and children will eventually
live in the house, VanHook said.

"By the time they leave the home, we want them to be able to
financially take care of themselves, to be better off educationally,
and have a different view of who they are and a better focus on where
they're going in life," VanHook said.

Different from other treatment programs, residents will receive
assistance beyond a structured time frame, VanHook said.

"People can go to prison over and over again, but what they really
need is to learn the skills to rebuild their lives," she said. "The
nearly $24,000 spent housing a prisoner (for one year) could be better
spent teaching someone how to make their lives positive. It is better
to spend that money helping them than to spend that money
incarcerating them."

Take It To The Streets was incorporated in 1999 by VanHook and her
husband, Clinton, who are both ordained ministers. Through past
experiences as a drug addict, Clinton VanHook understood the path to
recovery and felt compelled to help others, Sheri VanHook said. She
has a bachelor's degree in psychology from University of North
Carolina - Chapel Hill and spent six years as a social worker in
Onslow County. She also directed a Pitt Community College program
teaching life skills to recovering drug addicts at the Walter B. Jones
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center in Greenville.

He has worked with substance abusers in the corrections system and
published book about his recovery from drug addiction called "Up Out
of Bondage."

The organization operated a similar program for men at a leased home
near the new women's residence on West Fourth Street but that effort
was discontinued after a January 2003 electrical fire. The building
was not destroyed, but officials wanted to focus resources on property
already owned by the organization instead of signing another lease.
VanHook said another men's home will be organized in the future.