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The Bristol
Herald Courier
Published: September 14, 2009
BY BRYNN ROBERTSON
SPECIAL TO HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Simply walking past the group of
chatting women in McDonald’s, anyone would know that something was buzzing –
something great. More than the aroma of freshly made breakfast foods filled the
air as Marjorie Tester, Dr. Marie Crawford, Terri Brewer, Donna Camper and
Maria Wagner held bubbling conversation about launching their new nonprofit
organization.
“Bristol Recovery Road
for Women is unlike anything else in this area. It’s unlike anything else I’ve
ever heard of!” Crawford beamed.
Wagner, a local nurse, added: “There is such an immense need for something
around here to help recovering addicts, but when you add in the extra stress of
being a women with a criminal record, the need simply skyrockets.”
Brewer, who the group hopes will eventually become BRRW’s executive director
once the program is in full swing, has been working for more than three years
in the Bristol
city and Southwest Regional jail systems. Tester, Crawford, Camper and Wagner
are the group’s other existing board members.
All five eagerly explained that their program would be designed as a
one-year residential recovery program whose participants would be recommended
by the judicial system while the women are still incarcerated.
While in prison, these ladies will have to complete a Bible study and
application process, as well as a series of interviews before being accepted.
Once accepted, each women will live in a residential facility that has enough
land for the women to be isolated from the lure of addiction while teaching
them to live off the land.
“Self-sufficiency is a lost art,” Brewer said. “So is learning from our
elders. It is our hope that we will have volunteers to be dorm moms who will be
on campus 24-7 as these women will be under constant care. They, as well as
other volunteers, will partner with us to evaluate each participant to find out
her strengths and weaknesses. As she begins to overcome her addictions and go
through emotional counseling, she will also undergo spiritual counseling as
well as classes that will capitalize on skills she already has while furthering
mainstream education and incorporating daily living and parenting skills.”
Added Tester: “These women will be making a choice, most of them, to leave
behind children with whom they’ve left in the care of foster parents or other
family members while incarcerated for another full year in order to make a
decision to change their lives for good.”
After completing the one-year program, the graduates will have opportunities
to use the staff at Bristol Recovery Road for Women as liaisons with community
companies and organizations to find work and long-term housing for themselves
and their families, and otherwise incorporate themselves back into becoming
contributing members of society.
“Most area recovery programs last no more than 30 days while research shows
that it takes six months to a year for someone out of prison to completely
recover and reintroduce themselves into society,” Camper said. “Without
programs like ours, many of these women will become lost. They will become
repeat offenders. They just have nowhere to go.”
In the spring 2009, the ladies were awarded their charter and 501(c)3
nonprofit status. They are now in the development and fundraising stages of
implementing their program. While many local businesses and community members
already are standing behind the women’s ideas and goals for this organization,
the funds must come from somewhere.
“Five years from now,” Tester said, “I hope we are serving 20 women with a
volunteer structure in place and sustainability for the next generation. This
is not a one-year program. Bristol
Recovery Road for Women is something we are
building for our community and for the future of our children.”
http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/local_nonprofit_seeks_to_help_female_addicts_on_the_long_road_to_recovery/32353/
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