PERSONIFIED

Souls Harbor offers grace, guidance, transition, recovery

Charlene Fields, Souls Harbor NWA Executive Director:

Tell us about your organization: Souls Harbor NWA is a faith-based men’s transitional living community. Next year we celebrate 30 years! In the summer of 2015 we moved from an emergency homeless shelter to a transitional living program. We serve 20 men, ages 18-65, who are in recovery.

Mission: Souls Harbor of Northwest Arkansas is a transitional community for men in recovery that provides a pathway to self-sufficiency by offering grace and guidance.

Services provided: We provide a safe, sober living environment for men. We understand the impact that education, stable employment and affordable housing has on the men and their families. Souls Harbor requires completion of life skills classes.

Service area: We serve men from all over the United States; however, most residents are from Arkansas and surrounding states.

DINNER WITH SOUL

Who: Souls Harbor Northwest Arkansas

What: Dinner, drinks, games, wine pull, testimonies, live and silent auctions

When: 6-9 p.m. Sept. 8

Where: Souls Harbor in Rogers

Tickets: $75 or $125 per couple

Information: (479)640-4225 or charlene@soulsharbo…

Average number of people served annually: 50 residents and their families.

How is your organization’s mission unique? We are the only faith-based transitional living community, with a program, for men in Northwest Arkansas. The residents contribute sweat equity to the community and consider the other men their brothers; they live as a family.

Why do you work for a nonprofit organization? Souls Harbor NWA is my second nonprofit that I’ve been blessed to serve in. I am also a full-time student at the University of Arkansas in the master’s counseling program. I know what an impact treatment and transitional living has on long term recovery. With LPC licensure being my goal, this allows us to better serve the residents.

Do you have a personal connection to the mission? My path here begins with my own testimony. In 2014 the father of my then 3-year-old daughter, Truth, stayed at Souls Harbor for about two weeks. He suffered from a substance use disorder, and had for about 30 years of his life. He was asked to leave by the director when he relapsed. My daughter had not seen her father for several months. We picked him up from Souls on a Sunday. He asked that I take him to Fayetteville to a motel there. We did. I spoke with him and his mother a few times the next few days. He made several amends and was attempting to get help. On Tuesday I received a phone call from Fayetteville Police Department that some construction workers found Michael outside his room slumped in a chair. We were devastated. But as many of those who are touched, or have been touched by this disease know, these are not bad people. They suffer from a disease.

What part of your job fills the most of your time? The most fulfilling, working with the residents. High fiving them and taking pictures when they obtain their driver’s license after years of not having one. When they go back to school or get that job they had been hoping for.

What have you learned on the job that you didn’t expect? The true long-term affect it has on children when the father breaks the chains of addiction.

What challenges face your organization? Although Arkansas is No. 1 in the nation for opioid use disorder, available grants, and consequently revenue, are declining. We know the need is great. I currently have 32 on our waitlist, and we are at capacity. However we will continue to serve as many, as best as we can, through the amazing support of our local community.

Are there volunteer opportunities in your organization? What are they? Absolutely! We have several ways to get involved. We have a large garden and raised beds. We rely on help in planting, weeding and harvesting. Another way to get involved is to prepare a meal for the 20 men during the week.

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