MALACHI HOUSE CHANGES ADDICTS' LIVES

GREENSBORO -- Drugs caused an upheaval in Runell Washington's life. Her
husband was addicted. He was in and out of rehabilitation programs. He
struggled with cocaine for 20 years.

This month, their lives are experiencing another upheaval. But this time,
the changes and struggles are good.

She's moving from South Carolina to Greensboro to be with her husband,
Bernard Washington, 44, a recent graduate of Malachi House. He is clean. He
has goals. He is a new man.

Malachi House is the last in a long line of programs Bernard Washington has
attended to try and break his drug addiction. But it is the first, Runell
Washington said, that has changed his outlook and caused him to look toward
a future without drugs.

"There's a passion that's been born in him to give back," she said. "At
first it just seemed hopeless. He's been in a number of rehab programs ..
but this one has impacted him and thereby impacted me so dramatically. He's
a believer now. He's going to build himself up."

It is a story that Malachi House has seen unfold for more than 325 men and
their families since 1993. The rehabilitation program, which organizers
describe as a "Christian discipleship program," has become one of the
fastest growing nonprofits around and has earned recognition up and down
the east coast.

This month, the program opened another home, this one on Barto Place at a
cost of $375,000, that will house 26 more men. Malachi House now boasts 7
houses and 58 current students. Its 15 member staff are all former addicts.
Thirteen of them are Malachi House graduates.

And another 17 men are waiting for their place at Malachi to open.

They may not have to wait long. Officials said the program is in the final
stages of buying the Evangel Fellowship Church building on Balboa Street.
The church is moving to a new building on Cone Boulevard.

The renovated church will house the program's main training center, will
include more housing and will allow Malachi House to serve a total of 90
students at a time.

Malachi House's explosive growth in the past 10 years is due mainly to the
high praise it has earned from families and even other programs.

Men enrolled in the program follow a rigid daily schedule of chores and
classes.

Church attendance is mandatory, as is earning their keep by working at
various events throughout the year, such as the Furniture Market, or at
other venues in the city, such as the Guilford County Animal Shelter and a
car wash on Elm-Eugene Street that Malachi House opened last year to boost
its income.

"They recognize the need for long-term treatment while the national trend
has been to lessen the days of care," said Antonia Monk Reaves,
communications director and program officer at the Community Health
Foundation. "Most programs go seven days, which is basically just detox.

"They (Malachi House) recognize that it takes a whole lot more than that,"
Reaves said.

She added that having the men isolated from much of the rest of the world
during their stay, and having them work to earn money to keep the program
going, gives the men a sense of ownership in the program.

Malachi House was born in Greensboro in 1993, with initial funding from the
Evangel Fellowship Church. Back then, the program lasted 60 days. The first
class graduated, but the program shut down as funds dried up.

The program reopened one year later, and in 1995, Clif Lovick was hired as
executive director. Those around him knew Lovick was perfect for the job
because he was a recovered drug addict himself.

In earlier years, Lovick had lived out of a car in Washington, D.C.,
scrounging to spend $300 to $500 a day on cocaine. He spent three years in
prison. Then he entered Teen Challenge, the world's largest Christian drug
rehabilitation program, and began his recovery.

"I believe that's what God wanted me to do," Lovick said. "I have a passion
to change lives because my life was changed, and I wanted to give back to
our community."

At Malachi House, his main task was fund-raising. Lovick and one other
staffer worked to build a base of donors.

"It was very frustrating at times, but the need for reaching out to men was
never ending. God provided," Lovick said. "Drug addiction is very hard to
overcome. I myself fell three times. If people would have given up on me,
where would I be today? There is hope."

Lovick also extended the program from 60 days to nine months.

The program that started with just six students, grew to 12, then to 20,
then to 30, then to 55 and more.

Word of Malachi Houses's success was spread largely by churches. Lovick
travels the country speaking to congregations about Malachi House.

Ruhbena Reese of Goose Creek, S.C., met Lovick when he spoke to her
church's youth service. When Lovick spoke to the congregation the following
Sunday, her son was in the audience.

"The Lord pointed him out, and said this is your reason for being here,"
she said of the meeting between Lovick and her son, Jason Eric Reese, 32.
Lovick told Jason he had a bed at Malachi House with his name on it if he
desired. Four days later, Jason was in Greensboro, beginning his new life.

Three months later, Reese said, Jason was renewed.

Malachi House was different from other programs her son had tried, she
said, because before, "Inwardly, there had not been any changes."

Malachi House, she said, helped him change the way he saw his life and how
he wanted to live it.

"He's married. He has a family with three children. He's doing great," she
said.

Since her son's graduation from Malachi House, Reese has continued to help
with fund raisers for the program.

The program receives no federal or state money and relies instead on
donations and income earned by its students at the car wash and other jobs.

Students pay only $250 for their time at Malachi House, no matter the
length of the stay.

And Malachi House is growing still.

Lovick said the program hopes to open a house in South Carolina by 2004.
There has been talk, he said, of opening a branch of the program just for
women.

And in June, Lovick will spread the Malachi House name internationally. He
will speak in Moscow and at various locations in Europe to help develop
leaders to fight the war on drugs.

As Runell Washington prepares to leave her home for Greensboro, she marvels
at the change Malachi House has sparked in her husband, and in both their
lives.

"Addiction is actually a reflection of the brokenness in a man," she says.
"Malachi House causes them to believe they can be healed of that brokenness."

Currently, Washington is an associate minister in a South Carolina Baptist
church. In Greensboro, she wants to help at Malachi House, and be part of
the team that brings new life to other men.

"I saw him struggle, struggle, struggle. When he became part of Malachi
House, he had a totally different perspective," she said.