Poplar Bluff women’s center looks to add third location

The holiday season will be much merrier at Recycling Grace Women’s Center after nearly $34,000 was raised during a recent benefit for the program.

It will help support yearly operations and a growing Christmas wish list for the organization that added a second home, Linda House, this year. Plans for a third site are already underway.

The third site will help double the number of those who can be served, said the Rev. Sandra Mick.

When Mick speaks at different churches, she shares the center’s Christmas wish list, which includes multiple windows valued at $200 each and doors costing $250 each.

Mick is the founder and chief executive officer of the center, a Christ-centered environment for women to break the cycle of addiction and become productive members of society. The organization has helped nearly 200 women since it first opened in 2014, but has seen the ongoing need for their work.

The name Recycling Grace was selected “because we are healed individuals, who use the same help God gave us to help others,” Mick said.

About 184 women have completed the program, and some are taking the program back to their area hometowns, she said.

“We value honoring God along with hard work and integrity as a model for success,” Mick said. “We have 15 beds full at our two residential centers, and we have a waiting list of 60.”

The original site has eight beds and the second home, Linda House, has seven beds.

A third location, which will provide beds for 14-16 additional women, currently is being remodelled and will double the number of those who can be served, Mick said.

Requirements to become a resident are being a female, age 18 or older; detoxed (free of alcohol and/or drugs); and seeking recovery from addiction.

“Women who do not choose to participate in the residential program are welcome to attend groups and classes at the center,” Mick said.

Mick shared one of the graduates’ testimonial.

The graduate said, “I am forever grateful for the tools I acquired in this program … tools to be a successful person in life. I thank God foremost for saving me from the distrustful life I was living and Pastor Sandy Mick for following her vision to help women who struggle with recovery from addictions. Thank you.”

An important source of support for these efforts has been the annual gala organized by Poplar Bluff native Scott Innes, who is known as the voice of Scooby-Doo. More than 300 people attended the event recently held at the Holiday Inn to celebrate the center’s program and the lives of the women helped by the program.

Innes is a voice actor, author, songwriter and radio personality, who has not forgotten his hometown or his family members who have had addictions, said Mick. This year marked the sixth annual event, with Mickey Gilley receiving the keys to the City of Poplar Bluff.

Mick explained, “The gala gives us exposure. It takes a lot of money to operate and not go into the red. Salaries alone are a lot.”

Some of the program’s workers, like Mick, do not draw a salary.

“Recycling Grace helps women examine the cause of their pain and process it,” Mick said. “Instead of living out of pain, they learn to live out of the heart Jesus gave them and will demonstrate.”

Those in the program will expect to participate actively and consistently in an individualized, structured recovery plan with faith-based groups, classes and counseling.

They will be asked to seek, engage in and maintain employment and/or pursue training and educational opportunities, Mick said.

They will become team workers who help keep the facilities clean, as well as are courteous and respectful of others and their property, Mick said.

To provide the service for the women, center officers and directors work year-round to raise funds. The gala is one of the largest events, while planners rent the Holiday Inn ballroom, and Castello’s Restaurant caters the event for free. Mayor Robert Smith presented the keys to the city to Gilley when he was in town to headline the event. Johnny Lee, keyboardist Lee Hendrix, Brothers Walker and the Millstones also performed.