RELIEF FROM ADDICTION A BLESSING

Covenant House Helps Former Addicts Fight Habits, With Help From Faith And
Hard Work

STATESVILLE - Michael Christian was on crack cocaine for five years
before he sought help at Covenant House, a spiritual-based home on
South Center Street for recovering addicts.

The nondenominational home helped him get off drugs and rearrange his
life through its regimented program of daily Bible studies, counseling
and work in the community.

It changed him so much that he became a counselor to others at the
home, which opened in 1998 as Malachi House and has since served about
400 men suffering from alcoholism and other addictions.

Now, Covenant House is looking for a larger home to accommodate its
waiting list of 30. The goal, says director Darryl McIntyre, is to
move to a more rural setting, away from the temptations of the street.

"We are not rich, but we're looking for a kind heart that will sell us
some land outside the city limits, because the serenity of the country
is more therapeutic than men trying to recover in the inner city,"
McIntyre said.

The home has a budget of $10,000 a month. It relies on churches,
individual donors and volunteers. It also became a member-agency of
the United Way of Iredell County this year and will receive $25,000
from the United Way for next year's budget.

Fifteen men now live in Covenant House .

They learn self-worth through trust in God and making a difference in
the community.

The men, for instance, helped out at Success Institute on Rickert
Street, as the charter school prepared for the start of the new school
year. On July 25, they mopped and waxed the floors.

Glenn Usry is the pastor of Christian Outreach of the Piedmont church,
which founded the charter school. Usry said the men's willingness to
work to better themselves and support Covenant House is
inspirational.

"We have been able to help men for the last four years without
assistance from the government, which has been a miracle," Usry said
of Covenant House.

The men also help the Statesville Housing Authority by cleaning
apartments so they can be rented again. "The Housing Authority has
been great with allowing us to do work through them," McIntyre said.

"We are also cleaning churches, doing landscaping, painting, carpentry
and providing moving services (for people)," he said.

The program of work and prayer is working for men like Michael
Christian, 41, and Gary Lane, 35, also a former crack cocaine addict
who has been at Covenant House for about two months. The program has
taught them to set goals.

"Mr. Mac (Darryl McIntyre) said he would help me go to school to be an
electrician after I graduate from the program," said Lane, who is from
Washington, D.C., and was kicked out of a cousin's house for stealing
money before a pastor mentioned Covenant House. "This program is worth
all the help it gets because it restores men back to their families."

Christian is from Newport News, Va. He enrolled at Covenant House in
August 2002 but left after a month.

"I didn't want to be told what to do and really wasn't focused on why
I came, so I went to the streets of Statesville," Christian said.

He stayed at the Fifth Street Ministries homeless shelter for three
days before deciding Covenant House and its eight-month program was
where he really needed to be.

He graduated in June.