Women’s drug-recovery facility ready to shift from drawing board to construction stage

ALBANY – With $1 million in the bank, a $1 million piece of property and contractors committed to providing in-kind contributions of work, the Anchorage is poised to hit the gas pedal on a women’s residential drug recovery center.

The development of a women’s Anchorage has been under discussion for about a decade, and the faith-based program is close to embarking on building the new residential facility at a separate location from the men’s version. Over the last few years, board members at the Anchorage have made establishing the needed facility a reality.

“We’re really excited,” board member Jeff Neal said.

A 70-acre property on Gillionville Road was donated and will be the site for the new recovery center. The property, whose previous owner wanted to maintain its dedication to a Christian cause, has a pavilion area and an existing building that the Anchorage board envisions as the chapel for the women’s treatment center.

“First of all, we’ve got all the approvals to build,” Neal said. “Quite a lot of money has been given for it. We have some individuals who are going go do some of the work for free. Right now we’re waiting for them to pour the pad.”

The Anchorage has been in operation since 1953 and was initially for men only. After a brief time operating as a co-ed facility, it returned to the men-only format.

Its origins date back to the middle of the last century when a men’s Sunday School Class at First United Methodist Church of Albany had a member with a severe alcohol issue shortly after the end of World War II.

The member received treatment in North Carolina when no centers were available in Georgia, and that planted the idea that treatment services were needed closer to home.

Since its inception, the Anchorage has been supported by area churches, and that has allowed it to have a cost that is low in the world of addiction treatment.

The women’s Anchorage is expected to cost about $2.5 million, said Anchorage Executive Director Bob Lynch.

The site on Gillionville Road offers some challenges, he said, including extending gas and sewer lines on the property.

The opening of a women’s transitional center in Baconton is a positive, and there is no danger of there being too much in the way of those services, Lynch said. There is little in the way of such centers in the area.

“There’s just so much need,” he said. “It’s kind of a long haul for me. This has been a two-year road for me.”

Like the Anchorage, the women’s version will maintain the Christian-based program, Neal said, and that is an important part of its character.

“We help meet both their spiritual and physical needs at the Anchorage,” he said. “That’s our vision, to do both.

“Drug addiction is very prevalent throughout our area, and sad to say, the need is always going to be there. We’re not going to go out of business, I’ll say that.”

Once the pad is paved for construction, work will begin in earnest.

“It’s a little bit of a hurry up and wait attitude right now,” Neal said. “It’s still on the go, and it’s a definite deal. Hopefully by next fall we’ll begin having women come in.”

File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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