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More healing for the hurting
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- Positioned between two thrift shops, where preowned items find fresh life with new owners, is another place of second chances. Here at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, 5885 66th St. N, men struggling with alcohol and drug addiction get to dust themselves off and begin anew. They get free shelter, food, clothing and counseling, all unapologetically dispensed with a heavy dose of spiritual balm. On Sunday the facility, one of more than 100 Salvation Army rehabilitation centers nationwide, will be on show. In recent months, church officials have spent $1.2-million renovating the property and building a new chapel that will be open to the public. Sunday the chapel will be dedicated during a 2 p.m. ceremony that will be attended by Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler and Salvation Army Commissioners Philip and Keitha Needham, former area commanders for St. Petersburg, and Majs. Larry and Shirley White, adult rehabilitation commanders for the organization's Southern territory. This week, amid frenzied last-minute preparations, two men waited in the center's lobby, a small, enclosed area rank with sweat. They good-naturedly talked about their minimum-wage jobs, a sloppy roommate and a range of other subjects. On a nearby wall, a framed sign outlined some of the center's rules. Residents must attend chapel, it said, and wear proper attire. Not the ubiquitous "Shoes and shirt required" posting, it mandated that a suit or sport coat, dress slacks, shirt, tie and dress shoes be worn for Sunday services. "I've had people come in and say, 'I haven't worn a tie for 25 years,"' said Maj. Charles Nowell, who runs the facility with his wife, Sylvia. "And my wife, she'll say, 'Just think how good you'll look in your tie."' The rehabilitation facility, which has been on 66th Street since 1978, is the only one on Florida's west coast and among 26 in the South. It can house 108 residents. Refurbishment of the facility, in an area recently annexed by Pinellas Park, has included new beds, lockers and showers for residents, new carpeting for the dining room, tile for the hallways, new offices for staff, two new classrooms and a conference room. A newly shaded patio has been furnished with rocking chairs from a Cracker Barrel restaurant and is the designated smoking area. The new chapel occupies the space of the old thrift store. A new store, in Salvation Army parlance, a "Family Store," was built on adjacent property. Maj. Nowell is proud of the new worship space, with its Salvation Army fire-red carpet, high ceilings and double doors with stained glass crosses. He's most pleased, though, with the chapel's increased seating. The old chapel sat only 100 people. The new one can accommodate 250. "In the old days, we built chapels only for our men," Nowell said. "During the winter, we have visitors who will come in from the trailer park next door." With a bigger chapel, he hopes more outsiders, including family members of residents, will attend services. Families in recovery"Today, it's younger men who still have families. ... We have a new program we're starting, FIRST, Families in Recovery Stay Together. If they can involve their families in the recovery program, through programs like AA and spiritual programs, and worship together, it helps the stability of the person in recovery," he said The men, whose education might range from as little as elementary school to a doctorate, often are referred to the center by drug counseling agencies, Veterans Affairs, ministers or other Salvation Army locations. They also can apply for admission on their own. Some residents are on parole or probation. For the most part, they are free to come and go as they like. They must, though, adhere to the 11 p.m. curfew unless permission has been given for an overnight absence. Residents also are required to work 40 hours a week and perform such tasks as helping drivers on Salvation Army trucks, stocking the warehouse, cleaning or helping in the thrift store. Mischler, the Pinellas Park mayor, approves of what the Salvation Army refers to as "work therapy." "I feel that everybody should be productive. Some people are down and out, but they have to pick themselves up," Mischler said. Residents, who can remain at the center for about six months, also are required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous classes. Drug tests are performed at random, and they are given Breathalizers every time they return to the center. "If you blow dirty, you can't come in and that way we can keep a sober house," said Nowell, referring to the Breathalizers used to test for alcohol. Began in London slums"With licenses, there come restrictions and we'll never be told we can't have religious services. We don't force anyone to go to church, but they don't have to sleep here or eat here," Nowell said The Salvation Army was started in 1865 by William Booth, an ordained Methodist minister who took his message to the poverty-stricken residents of London's East End. The organization was introduced to the United States in 1880 and to St. Petersburg in 1912. For Nowell, who is nearing retirement, and his wife, the Salvation Army has been part of their lives for decades. They have worked for the organization for 41 years and specifically in the area of rehabilitation for 25 years. What keeps him going? "To see the guy that makes it," Nowell said. "First of all, I'm a minister and to see a guy step out on Sunday morning and make a commitment to Christ. ... You do what you can. You provide a clean environment. You provide the spiritual environment ... and leave the results with God." But, he acknowledged, "It never doesn't hurt" when a man fails. Thrifty philanthropy"We have to take your old chair and somehow convert it into money," he said "Send us your usable discards. Our real ultimate goal is recycling lives."
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