When Sister Mary-Beth McCurdy and Sister Arlene Brawley sat down inside the first-ever Sophia Recovery Centre on Hazen Street in Saint John, N.B., they wondered if anyone would come.
Then the doorbell rang.
There was a woman with a donation of banana bread and as McCurdy recounts, “ever since that day, the doorbell has never stopped ringing.”
Now, there is a new space: the centre has opened a flagship space on Metcalf Street in Saint John’s north end.
One of the women who rang the doorbell was Michelle Logan. Sixteen years ago, she was struggling with an addiction to crack cocaine.
“I had started at a very young age and I struggled. I struggled for a couple of years,” she said. “When Sophia House opened their doors, I found my way there.… I began my journey with Sophia House the day they opened.”
She was on the streets for about 12 years, struggling with homelessness and addiction.
“I did everything I possibly could. It ruined my life,” she said of her struggles with drugs. “Because of Sophia House, I now stand here, 11 years clean and sober.”
She uses what she’s learned from the centre to help other women, showing them recovery is possible.
“Sophia House is one of the main reasons why I get to stand here today with a smile on my face,” she said.
McCurdy said the space is a big part of the next chapter for the organization.
“It is with deep gratitude and joy that we are on a threshold of a new home and a new chapter in the life and mission of Sophia Recovery Centre,” she said, speaking to the crowd. “This is truly a moment of grace in a 16-year story.”
The project began as a fundraising effort, given the tight space on Hazen Street, which is an apartment.
It worked to collect $1.5 million for the project – with about $100,000 needed to close the gap on the project.
“We recognize that we were going to need more space to support all the women and families really that are desperately reaching out and a lot of times those women need support that is longer term. Like, you can’t fix something this quickly, it takes time to heal,” said SRC executive director Julie Atkinson.
She said they were often having to choose what programming they could offer in the old space. The Sophia Recovery Centre serves around 460 women and families a year.
About 40 to 50 walk into the centre for various services a week.
“That first moment walking through the door is most important,” she said. “First of all, she has to be brave to acknowledge that she needs help and then she has to come into a space that she doesn’t know who she is going to meet or what she’s going to find, so we really wanted that front entrance to be very warm and welcoming.”
The front entrance has a garden and a few benches, as well as an archway where Sophia, the Greek word for wisdom, is waiting for women.
“We are in a time and have been in a time of walking, of learning how to walk together for the greatest good of all,” McCurdy said.