person that loves him along with them, too. Our place
is for the family who has lost hope. We want to give
them a reason to believe again.”
As work began on the building, not everyone in
the community understood. “Some looked at us like
we were crazy,” said Chastity. “All I can do is smile. It’s
difficult to explain how deeply it hurts to lose a child
to addiction. But I’m not the only one. There are many
families just like ours. As much as we wanted our son
to be free and have the life that we always dreamed
for him, we want that for them, too.” One of the main
contributors to the work on the building for the Hope
House Ministry for Men was Alston.
The root of the word “compassion” literally
means “to suffer with.” Compassion seems to be the
motivating force behind much of what Jesus did.
“Moved with compassion,” he healed the sick, fed
the hungry, and raised the dead. Not figuratively. He
literally raised a widow’s only son from the dead in
Luke 7 because he was moved with compassion when
he passed the boy’s coffin as it was being carried out
of the gates of a city. By that standard, being moved
by compassion to build a place to help recovering
addicts doesn’t seem quite so irrational after all.
The Hope House Ministry for Men is in the
process of receiving THOR (Transitional Housing for
Offender Reentry) approval for their eight-occupant
home. “THOR approval is mandated through
the state,” said Chastity. “We are under certain
requirements, which allows us to be added to a list of
local rehab facilities from which the courts can chose
to send someone released on a contingent bond. If we
are called, we will do an interview and decide if we are
a good fit for that person. If we take him, he comes to
us straight from jail. There’s no pit stop in between.”
“But what we’re doing is not just for those
coming out of jail,” said Steve. “We want to serve guys
struggling with drug addiction in our community and
the surrounding counties. Our goal is to keep them
sober for a year and working a job. We don’t want the
parent paying the bill and them sitting there doing
nothing. That’s not accomplishing anything. Real life
means you get up, you go to work, you stay sober, you
come home, you pay your bills and you do it all again
the next day. We will help them find work and provide
transportation. Several businesses have already let us
know that they want to help.”
Attending church is an important part of
the faith-based rehab program. Initially, Chastity
was concerned that others in the church might be
uncomfortable with them bringing drug addicts
to the services. Even though The Hope House will
not receive sex offenders nor anyone with a violent
offence, she said, “I did not want to bring men in our
program into our church and someone not come back
because they felt uncomfortable. A lot of them will
have criminal records because of the drugs.”
HOMETOWN LIVING AT I TS BEST 87
/solace-hospice.com