Gleaner Opinion
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Gleaner
"This is the model of what a recovery program should
be." -- Kim Alsept, 35, one of 13 clients in the inaugural
graduation class of the local Women's Addiction Recovery
Manor (WARM).
WARM, the first center established in former Gov. Ernie
Fletcher's "Recovery Kentucky" program, reached a notable
milestone in the form of Sunday's "transitional" ceremony
honoring its first graduates.
The honorees unanimously lauded WARM during an
interview with The Gleaner and again Sunday in a joyous
ceremony before a packed house of fellow clients, family,
friends, staff, public officials, board members and other
key WARM supporters.
As the graduates transition from a program that has
lifted them out of homelessness and alcohol and/or drug
addiction, they have been strengthened for, in the words
of the WARM mission statement, "re-entry into
relationships, work and community."
It is worth noting that the transitioning clients,
while high in praise of the WARM program and its influence
on their lives, also spoke highly of this community. In
fact, several of them have said they want to continue to
rebuild their lives right here.
That says a lot about a community that takes great
pride in its generosity and its outreach programs, among
them the Hugh Edward Sandefur Center, Riverview School,
Child Advocacy Center and the Women's Emergency Shelter.
The women's shelter board was the conduit in the
application process that led to the decision to build the
100-bed recovery center here. The Rev. Ed Bradley, who was
instrumental in the creation of the women's shelter, and
civic leader Dale Sights were at the forefront early in
the effort to land the first of Gov. Fletcher's "Recovery
Kentucky" centers. Tom and Jo Logan, who have generously
shared with the community in other civic endeavors,
donated the McKinley Street site for the $3.2 million
center.
Sights, himself a recovering alcoholic with more than
21 years of sobriety, remains actively involved in WARM as
its volunteer board chairman and CEO.
Anyone and everyone who has played a part in the WARM
story that "is a model of what a recovery program should
be" should feel an enormous sense of pride at the
milestone reached by the 13 transitioning clients.
We wish them well in their journey and salute them as
trailblazers for those who will follow in their steps
toward sobriety and roles as contributing members of
society.
