A Pearl River County faith-based drug program is looking into opening a residential treatment center in Marion County.
The Marion County Board of Supervisors heard Wednesday about Jacob’s Well and Damascus Road Ministries and efforts to reach people before they end up in the drug court system. The organization would like to use buildings located at the Marion County BusinessPlex (the former Columbia Training School).
Director said the majority of it would be secondary treatment: A group of men or women would live in dorm-style housing after going through primary drug treatment and have jobs during the day that would help pay for it.
“This is an epidemic that is not going anywhere soon,” Haines said. “We’re not asking for a dime. But there are some things in your inventory that could help. We would upgrade these buildings on our dime. It’s a win-win for both of us.”
Board Attorney Joe Shepard said he needed to check with the attorney general on a few items regarding BusinessPlex leases. One issue is whether the county is required to charge a market price for a monthly lease or can do a nominal amount.
Chancery Clerk Cass Barnes asked questions about the program and the steps.
“I deal with it just about every day,” he said of the county’s drug addiction crisis.
The session began with Crystal Browning, who works for the 15th Judicial Drug Court, and about a half dozen representatives from the organization, including Haines, speaking about the need for such a facility in Marion County.
“Today I’m not talking for Drug Court,” Browning said as she set her badge on the Board’s table. “Today I’m talking as a resident of Columbia and Marion County. Through Drug Court, we’re able to witness addiction affect our community. We see a turntable of people coming and going and the same names all the time.
“Yesterday, it really spoke to me. We had a gentleman come in and his daughter’s not in the legal system, but he was there in the legal system pleading and asking for help. Our hands are tied with what we can do with somebody like that because there are no felony charges. We have places that we work with who have been awesome, and that’s who we have here today.”
Browning said drug court participants have been sent to the program, and she said she wants to start to reach people before they begin committing crimes.
“We’re seeing it kill members of this community. I want to see it change. My heart is crying for this,” she said.
Haines said program is located in Poplarville and been operating for 20 years. His parents, Pam and Charlie Haines, started it in Chunky (near Meridian) with a facility called “Righteous Oaks” and then moved south to start “Jacob’s Well” for women and then “Damascus Road” for men.
The organization has six thrift stores that help support its mission.
“They not only help fund our ministry and our humanitarian efforts, but they are a work side of what we do,” he said. “Not only to we bring a woman in to get her healthy mentally and physically and emotionally, but we plug them back into the workplace. We teach them skills – retail skills, entry level and managerial work. When they leave our program, they not only graduate from getting their life back from their addiction, but they also are plugged into a job because they have the skill set to enter back into the workplace.”
For men, it is similar but with manufacturing jobs.
“We partner with some of the area businesses. We have 35-40 men in the program at any given time and the same goes for the women,” Haines said. “We have a very large organization. We are a 501(c)3 and we have secondary program, which is kind of what we are looking at here.”
Shepard said he would try to complete the research before the next meeting of the Board on June 18.
