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The Hope House, a proposed transitional sober living recovery home for men in Buena Vista, was among the dozens of projects approved for funding from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority in the first round of cooperative partnership grant awards last week.
The project was awarded $210,231 in grant funding, which is eligible for four annual renewals to support the project over the next five years. Hope House will be the first facility of its kind in the Alleghany, Bath and Rockbridge tri-county area, noted Lori Turner, executive director for the Community Foundation for Rockbridge, Bath and Alleghany.
“We are so pleased that Rockbridge Recovery and our project partners are addressing this gap,” she said. “We are so proud that our localities are setting the standard for the rest of the state by being [among] the first in Virginia to successfully apply for and receive one of these grants.”
The Rockbridge Recovery Center was established in Buena Vista last year to assist those struggling with substance abuse and addiction during the recovery and rehabilitation process. The nonprofit program was recently given a donated house on Magnolia Avenue that will be renovated into a separate sober living house to further its mission.
Sober living houses like Hope House are designed to hold its residents accountable for living a clean lifestyle using a peer-support model. Residents will be surrounded by other individuals in recovery, allowing them to hold each other accountable for their own journey. Those kinds of bonds are essential to help ensure continued sobriety and the mental health of the residents.
Hope House director Bobby Slagle, himself a recovering addict, praised the Community Foundation for its collaborative approach to the project.
“They brought so many partners together from the community as part of this application, and when you see this kind of collaboration, it provides confidence that these funds are being put to the best possible use,” he said. “We feel blessed to know that there is so much support for our mission.”
In addition to the funds awarded to the project by the OAA, the city of Buena Vista contributed $32,333 in funding that it received directly from the settlements, and the city of Lexington committed $10,829 from its direct settlement funds. Additional financial support, totaling around $300,000, was provided by Grace Episcopal Church Gadsden and Outreach Funds, the Rockbridge Community Health Foundation, Lexington Presbyterian Outreach Program, Rockbridge Church, over 20 in kind community partners, and private donors.
With the funding secured, construction on the house will begin in July with the goal of having the work completed by the end of the year. The Hope House opening is scheduled for January of 2024.
“We are excited to move forward with this project,” said Steve Grist, chairman-elect of the Community Foundation board of directors, “Securing operational funding was the final phase of our planning. We knew we could build it, and now thanks to those who believed in our mission and the support of the OAA through this grant we are now able to sustain it.”
The Opioid Abatement Authority was created by the General Assembly in 2021 to abate and remediate the opioid epidemic in the commonwealth through grants, donations, or other assistance, for efforts to treat, prevent, and reduce opioid use disorder and the misuse of opioids in the commonwealth.
