Gala to raise funds to build local recovery center
KRISTI NIEMEYER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 3 months AGO
Kristi Niemeyer is editor of the Lake County Leader. She learned her newspaper licks at the Mission Valley News and honed them at the helm of the Ronan Pioneer and, eventually, as co-editor of the Leader until 1993. She later launched and published Lively Times, a statewide arts and entertainment monthly (she still publishes the digital version), and produced and edited State of the Arts for the Montana Arts Council and Heart to Heart for St. Luke Community Healthcare. Reach her at [email protected] or 406-883-4343. | September 28, 2023 12:00 AM
The Hope for the Mission Valley Gala, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Ronan Community Center, aims to raise funds to open a Hope Center Ministries recovery center for women in Ronan.
Sponsored by Life for the Nations, along with other local churches, the event includes a meal, catered by Allentown, live music, and live and silent auctions. Live auction items include a safari hunting trip to Africa, Airbnb rentals in Hawaii and the Mission Valley and a guided fly-fishing trip, along with Adirondack chairs, art prints and other donated goods and services.
Local women who are involved in the Hope Center in Helena will discuss their experiences and how the yearlong residential program has helped with their recovery from addiction.
Hope Center Ministries owns and operates 48 residential recovery centers across the United States, including a women’s center in Helena and a men’s center in Butte. Their unique family-oriented program offers a yearlong residency, paired with vocational training. After paying a $700 fee, residents pay for room and board by working at the center or in community jobs and emerge with money and job skills to help them begin a new life.
According to Life for the Nations pastor, Chad Hoffman, the gala will help raise the initial $300,000 needed to partner with Hope Center Ministries to establish a local women’s recovery center.
In addition, the gala will help “create an awareness in our community. That's why we wanted county leadership there, people who are committed to recovery and all the different facets.”
He said representatives of several different ministries and churches will be on hand, along with county officials, law enforcement, tribal representatives, and those involved in social services.
“All of our communities are impacted by addiction,” he said. “We really feel like we need to roll up our sleeves together as a community and address the challenges that we're facing.”
Hoffman says the goal is to open a Mission Valley Hope Center in 2024. Already, organizers have received $80,000 from the Gianforte Family Foundation to help kickstart the fundraising effort.
For more information, visit life4thenations.com or hopecm.com, or email [email protected].
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