MONROE — As Rev. Paul Watkins prepared to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with his family, a call came to his cell phone. It was a young woman who would soon be released from jail about an hour from home, but had no ride to get anywhere — and no place to go. 

The senior pastor for the Monroe Church of The Nazarene didn’t hesitate to leave his warm holiday meal, home and family to help someone in need. He and his wife, Peg, packed up and left, hoping to bring the woman to a safer place than she may otherwise end up. 

“That’s where the passion is driven from,” Watkins said. “I want to offer them a place to get back on their feet and get going — a place to start over.”

That passion is in the process of materializing into an opportunity to give back. After a chat with Family Promise Director Rick Gleason over coffee, the two concocted a plan for House of Hope, the first sober living center in Green County for women in recovery. 

“The greatest need at first is women,” Watkins said, noting that although there are some resources available to men, there are very few, if any, for women. “Eventually, we hope it will be men and women.”

Watkins, who serves as one of about 20 people on the House of Hope Committee says he sees the need for women often as a Chaplain for the Green County Sheriff’s Department and through his time on Green County Drug Court. 

Watkins often finds himself working with women in recovery, who are unemployed, unestablished and resort to going back into the same environment they came from, despite wanting better for themselves.

“They keep going back to the same situation, the same cycle of addiction,” Watkins said. “This will offer them a place for sober living.”

And since the Family Promise of Green County’s Day Center has recently moved from their location at Grace Lutheran Church, the biggest hurdle of finding a space came easily. It was the start of moving the longtime idea to fruition. 

“This is such a great opportunity to get the first one in the county started,” Gleason said. “It all came together the way it was supposed to.”

Although the church had received an offer from a contractor to tear down the space, Watkins said they chose to see it through to continue to provide community outreach. The location is perfect, Gleason said, since High Tide Recovery is within walking distance and there are several AA groups nearby.

“They have given us their blessing to use it as a sober living house,” Watkins said. “It’s been a day center — we hope to make it into a living center.” 

They hope to also eventually offer full, wraparound services that provide assistance with mental health, medications, job searches, employment and family communications, he said. 

Watkins said the sober living home is still in a visionary period, and is reaching out to the community for help and funding. They are currently umbrellaed under Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program and construction was slated to begin after Jan. 1. 

The plans for the center will include it being able to house four women at a time, and there is already a list of people waiting to get in. They’re hoping to open the facility soon, and are working closely with SWCAP for remodeling, administrative needs and are under their nonprofit status to receive donations. 

They are also helping establish some possible grant funding for the group. 

“From working as a chaplain, I know that women will come out of recovery in January and February and need a place to live, they scramble, and it’s difficult,” Watkins said.

They are hoping for people in the community to step forward who are looking for opportunities to help, since so many families are directly affected by drugs and alcohol addiction. Despite this not being a Family Promise project, the groups – and those leading them – are working together. 

“We’re happy to see it and see people continue a very important community service that will hopefully continue well into the future,” Gleason said.