Danville's Soul Garden Recovery Center set to open June 1

 

DANVILLE — Each morning, Nick Roberts and Jodi Beith celebrate another day of sober living.

Roberts, who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for 20 years, has been sober for two years now. For Beith, whose recreational drug use became a habit when she got hooked on back-pain medication in her early 20s, it will be four years in July.

Now, the Danville couple, others who are working to overcome addiction and their family members have a new resource to help them on their path to sobriety and family stability.

On Wednesday, Soul Garden Recovery Center board members, including Roberts and Beith, got the keys to a brick building at 801 W. Fairchild St. that will house the nonprofit group's long-awaited community center.

It will provide a safe haven for those struggling with and recovering from addiction, who can't return to their old friends or haunts that might prompt them to use again.

"They will be able to build new relationships here," Beith said.

The center, which will be open weekends and holidays, will be a home for support-group meetings — from AA, NA and the SMART program to grief-support groups and peer-led support groups for children of addicts. It will also provide educational and family activities and community resources and referrals for addiction-related issues.

It's set to open June 1, but it could open for support-group meetings within the next two weeks.

"Our goal is: support and empower people," said Wendy Lambert, the organization's founder and board president. "We want to heal the whole family, not just the addict.

"This is so desperately needed," continued Lambert, who, along with her board, has been raising money for and working to secure a site for the past four years. "Addiction is running rampant in our community. We can't lose any more people to drugs."

According to Vermilion County Coroner Jane McFadden, there have been 86 drug overdose deaths in the last seven years — 10 in 2012; seven each in 2013 and 2014; 10 in 2015; 18 in 2016; 19 in 2017; and 10 in 2018. There have been five so far this year.

In past years, the majority of deaths were opioid-related, McFadden said.

Lambert's own battle with addiction, which led her to near overdoses and to contemplate suicide, and recovery — and seeing other individuals' and families' struggles — prompted her to want to help. Her mother, Shirley, suggested establishing the center to provide people with a welcoming and safe environment and the tools and support that Lambert got that helped in her recovery.

While the board — which also includes treasurer Lisa Beith and secretary Dee Ann Ryan — initially hoped to buy the old Key Club adult day care at 1225 N. Jackson St. and the vacant home next door, that didn't pan out.

Then about a year ago, they noticed the Fairchild Street building was vacant and approached owner OSF HealthCare about donating it to them.

OSF agreed to transfer the deed to the Vermilion County Land Bank, under the condition that the land bank controls it for three years, said land bank Executive Director Pat O'Shaughnessy. During that time, the land bank will lease the building to Soul Garden for $100 a year, and the group will maintain it.

After that time, "we'll deed it to Soul Garden at no cost, as long as they are financially viable and are still interested in running it for that purpose," O'Shaughnessy said. "I think it will be a great partnership ... and good for the community."

The building has a spacious reception area and several small rooms that will be used for counseling or small group meetings on the first floor; four large rooms on the second floor that will be used as a board room, craft room, and for larger meetings and other activities; and a basement that can be turned into a recreation area.

"When we first saw inside, it felt like home," Lambert said, adding that it is handicapped-accessible, centrally located and close to a bus line, park and the hospital.

Ryan said the group plans to install a commercial kitchen and use it and a nearby room for its Comfort and Joy Pies and Puffs operation. That's the group's social enterprise — run by Ryan and other volunteers, including Peer Court kids — that makes baked items and sells them at the local farmers market and other events. The proceeds go to support Soul Garden's operations.

The property comes with land across Fairchild Street. Ryan said the group plans to turn it into a serenity garden with a gazebo, fountain, table and chairs, fruit trees and landscaping.

"It will be a quiet place for meditation," said Ryan, who is preparing a grant to the Vermilion Healthcare Foundation for some of the improvements.

Meantime, board members and volunteers plan to give the walls a fresh coat of paint. They're also hoping that people will donate chairs.

"When people walk through the door, we want it to be bright and beautiful," Lambert said. "We want people to feel welcome and feel hope."

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