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All three Rockbridge area jurisdictions are being asked to support The Hope House, an initiative of Rockbridge Recovery that is to provide assistance, including temporary housing, for recovering addicts.
A residential structure on Magnolia Avenue in Buena Vista was donated for this purpose. The house is to undergo renovations to become a temporary residence with support services for recovering addicts.
Six individuals would each live in the house for up to six months after having been in rehabilitation facilities for 28 days. Hope House would employ a full-time program manager and six part-time workers.
“We believe this project serves a critical need in our area,” said Lori Turner, executive director of the Rockbridge Community Health Foundation, in a letter to County Administrator Spencer Suter. “Sober living houses help individuals make the transition between drug rehab and their new drug-free life through supportive drugfree housing, career development programs, life skills courses and the guidance they need to succeed.”
Turner appeared before the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors last week, along with foundation board member Greg Madsen, to ask for the Board’s support for the initiative. Similar requests are to be made of Lexington and Buena Vista city councils at their regular meetings this Thursday. Under the proposal, Buena Vista would be the fiscal agent for The Hope House.
Turner said she wants the jurisdictions’ support generally and specifically as partners in an application for Opiate Abatement Authority Partnership grant funding. Applications for this state money from the commonwealth’s opioid litigation settlement are due this Friday, May 5.
Rockbridge Recovery is a nonprofit agency founded last year by a recovering addict that provides support services for recovering addicts.
“This is a big decision to make in two days,” said Walkers Creek Supervisor Jay Lewis, alluding to how long he’d had to review agenda materials for last week’s meeting. “I’m not overly educated on this.”
“There is a drug problem in this community,” acknowledged Buffalo Supervisor Leslie Ayers. To those involved in this initiative, she said, “Thank you for being part of the solution.”
While not ready to commit the county’s opioid settlement funds to the program, Lewis said he would be willing to support the grant application. He made a motion to that effect that passed unanimously.
The grant application envisions funding of $210,231 a year for operational staffing at The Hope House, to be renewed annually for up to five years. At that point, the OAA grant could be awarded for up to an additional 18 years per opioid settlement guidelines.
