Ribbon Cutting for the House of Grace

 There have been very few ribbon-cutting ceremonies lately—the last I can find was in June to mark the end of Phase One of the Parks for People campaign—so when I saw in the Rensselaer Republican that there was a ribbon cutting planned for the new House of Grace, I wanted to go. The Republican did not include a time, but I learned that with a quick e-mail.

The House of Grace is a recovery program for women with alcohol or drug addiction. In January it opened a branch on the Saint Joseph's College Campus. The organization is only four years old and began in Thornton, Indiana. Given that I had not seen any public announcements about the ribbon cutting other than the article in the Republican, I was surprised to find about forty people gathered near the northeast entrance to the Core Building. I recognized only three of them.

Most ribbon cuttings are quite short. This one may have been the longest that I have attended.  The event began with short talks by Sheriff Williamson, Mayor Wood, and Beth Graf from Saint Joseph's College. Sheriff Williamson has been an advocate for drug recovery programs because so many of his inmates at the jail have addiction problems and those problems fuel recidivism. He was a strong supporter of the Recovery House west of Rensselaer that serves males and was trying to find something similar for females. So when he heard that Tammy from the House of Grace was interested in expanding to Rensselaer, he did all he could to help her. Mrs Graf noted that Saint Joseph's College and its founding order of the C.PP.S. has as part of its mission to serve the underserved.

After the short talks several groups posed for pictures.

After prayers and a blessing, the ribbon was cut.

Then everyone was invited into the building for some snacks and a presentation in the small lecture hall.

As we milled around before the presentation, I got a chance to ask Tammy a couple questions. I asked how she found women for the program and she said most of the women were referred from jails. The organization has its literature in county jails, and being in jail apparently convinces people that they really do need to change their lives. I also asked how she decided on Rensselaer. She said that they were near capacity at Thornton (currently that location has four women and a capacity for six) and was considering expanding. She briefly considered Lafayette but she had had a number of referrals from our part of the state and had connections to some of the churches here, so she decided to try Rensselaer.

Eventually everyone was in the auditorium and Tammy told her life story, of how she went from a shy, introverted kid to a prison chaplain to founding the House for Grace. She was a very entertaining speaker. Her religion played a key role in her development and religion plays a key role in the House of Grace. The women in the program have to have a change of heart if they are to be successful in staying drug or alcohol free once they leave the program. They also need a mentor to help them on the path to change. Most of the people attended were there because of their churches and one could tell that by the many "amens".  

After Tammy, four women, two currently in the program and two who had been through the program, spoke and told of their life stories. Common to them were chaotic childhoods and chaotic lives as addicts. Two were fairly young and two were middle aged.

Women who enter the program do not work for the first two months and then get daytime jobs. There is a cost of $100 for an intake fee and a fee of $125 a week for rent, but if a woman cannot pay that, she is not turned away. The program lasts nine months. The Rensselaer branch has one woman enrolled and another ready to join. The capacity of the apartment is four, and if they expand beyond four, they will need to add another apartment and house manager. Naturally the program needs outside financial support. They encourage donations of money and also gas and food cards. There are a number of other items that they have on their wish list, from paper goods to hygiene items. See their website or Facebook page for more information. (More pictures here.)

The House of Grace joins a number of other local non-profits that have the goal of helping people in need including the Good Samaritan Food Pantry, The Crisis Center, Fuller Center for Housing, CDC Resources, the Jasper County Recovery House, and Birthright of Rensselaer.

One final picture. This is the view looking out the door of the Core Building to Halleck Center. There has been no one walking on what was once a heavily used path.