Cory and Michelle Joy sit in a room that used to be their bedroom. Down the hall is the room where their oldest son, Caleb, died.
Later that evening, the board for Do Something Inc. would be meeting in the house the couple used to call their home to discuss opening a Launch House. It would be a” hub of resources” for anyone needing help to overcome an addiction.
After Caleb died there last Labor Day weekend, the Joys left the home and did not stay there again.
This Labor Day weekend, on Saturday, Sept. 1, the community is invited to Hope Fest at the home.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Resources will be available for people struggling with addiction and their families, along with activities for children, and opportunities for people on all sides of the addiction spectrum to connect and support each other.
“I would have loved to have something like the Hope Fest before we lost Caleb,” Michelle said on Aug. 13. That day, another family had lost a loved one to an overdose. She and Cory had grown up with the man’s father.
Earlier that day, Michelle also received a private message from a stranger who was battling alcoholism. He wanted help to get sober.
“When they’re ready to get help, they don’t know where to go,” Michelle said.
“They need to have a place. We feel like this will be a place. It’s going to be a resource hub, where they can walk into the door and there’s an intake process. Then there are knowledgeable people here who can get them connected to resources.”
“When you feel lost or feel like you don’t know what is available, you do feel hopeless,” Cory said.
The Launch House would even be a place for someone to come and get help or support after they’re sober, too.
“I see this building as a place where somebody can come, there will be people who come that need to go to recovery. But there will also be those people who are reaching out to us right now that are like, ‘I am out of recovery now. I have no job. I have no home. I have no car. I have no license. I am desperate,'” Michelle said.
“Then, what happens is they are going to start using again if they don’t have some hope. Hope is our word.”
Melissa Tatman will work at the Launch House, organizing volunteers and programming. Tatman herself is a recovering addict and a grandmother raising her grandchildren because of addiction.
“There’s so much more to getting them into recovery. When they get out, it’s keeping them there,” Michelle said.
“They can so easily slip back, like when some trauma happens, like a breakup or they can’t find a job. They’re fragile. I see this as just not the beginning, but following them all the way along, so, mentoring, just dealing out hope.”
‘Unity in our community’
Last spring, Michelle received an email from county resident Sherri Rice with a Bible verse from Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
That’s how the seed for Hope Fest started. The planning time was short, but they decided to go for it anyway.
“We could keep waiting, wait a year and try to do it next year, but our community needs this now,” Michelle said. “Even if one person is helped, it was successful. Even if one person comes and their life was saved, it was worth it.”
Hope Fest will take place from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1 at the Launch House, on State Road 135 North in the Fruitdale area.
Children’s activities will include a bounce houses, a “dinosaur dig,” face painting and a bubble station. There will also be a popcorn machine, cotton candy, a snow cone machine and free hot dogs.
The Joys and family members of Kyle Foley are buying and grilling the hot dogs.
Kyle Foley died from a heroin overdose on July 20, 2017, a month-and-a-half before Caleb Joy.
Trees will be planted in memory of both men during Hope Fest.
In addition to the resource tent, where 30 organizations will have booths and information, live music, a cornhole tournament with trophies, and testimonies of recovery will be happening all day.
“We’re really trying to reach out to any and every resource — not just addiction and recovery resources, but poverty, mental and emotional health, physical health, really anything people would need help with that don’t know what resources are out there,” Michelle said.
Cory said the biggest goal for the event is getting people connected. “It’s really two-fold. It’s getting people connected to needed resources, but then also connecting people who want to serve to resources,” he said. “… We want to connect as many people as possible to close the gap in the unknown.”
Local restaurants and businesses have donated gift cards to give away throughout the day. Everyone who enters Hope Fest will be given a ticket to put into drawings for gift cards and prizes.
“Our goal is people come and feel the unity in our community and feel that shame has been removed,” Michelle said of Hope Fest. “So many people who struggle with anything feel shame. They feel unworthy, and we want them to come and be like, ‘We love you. This community loves you. We’re here for you. We’re going to help you. There’s hope and there’s a way out.’”
“The more knowledge we get into people’s hands, the better informed they are, the easier it is we as a community really can rally around not only the person going through the struggle, but the family,” Cory added.
“There’s something special happening here in Brown County. I am just blown away by the people who want to help and want to be involved,” Michelle said.
The Do Something Facebook page now has more than 1,500 members. It was created shortly after Caleb’s passing. It serves as a source of hope and help for people who are struggling with addiction and their loved ones.
A place to launch
The vision for the Launch House came from Do Something Inc. vice president Pam Gould.
Not long after Caleb passed away, Cory and Michelle went to have dinner at the Brown County Inn. When the couple entered the restaurant, Pam and her husband Bruce were also there. “They asked us to sit with them, but we just kind of wanted to be alone, so we ate, and somebody paid our bill,” Michelle said.
There were not many people in the restaurant that evening, so the Joys assumed the Goulds picked up their tab. “We went up and went over and started talking,” Michelle said.
That chat to say “thank you” ended up lasting over an hour.
“She (Pam) was sharing what the Lord had downloaded about the name and everything for the Launch House. We were just talking. She was like, ‘Did you pay your bill? Because we wanted to pay your bill.’ We’re like, ‘You didn’t pay our bill?’ We thought they had paid our bill,” Michelle said.
Pam believes God had a hand in bringing them together with the Joys. “For me, it’s like, just follow the Holy Spirit and all of these things come together in ways that only He can do. We can’t do those kinds of things. Then to have somebody else pay the bill — we are covered, as long as we’re following Him; it’s covered,” Pam said.
Plans for the Launch House include offering parenting classes, Bible studies, counseling, Celebrate Recovery and job training. Celebrate Recovery is a “Christ-centered, 12-step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurt, pain or addiction of any kind,” the program website states.
The plan was to have the Launch House ready to open by Hope Fest, but it’s taking a bit longer to make sure the building is up to code.
The building also has an apartment in it that is currently being rented. In the apartment there’s a kitchen, dining room, laundry room and another bathroom along with a family room. Once the lease is up on that apartment, the plan is to use it to make meals and teach life skills, like cooking. Cory said it also could be used to let people who are homeless to do their laundry or get a shower.
Donations are also needed to create a “support base” for Launch House.
“We have to have donors, monthly supporters who believe in the mission. That has to happen to so it’s sustainable,” Michelle said.
Donations for Do Something Inc. can be made by visiting the New Life Community Church website at newlifecc.org and clicking on the “give” tab.
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Donations for Do Something Inc. and to support the Launch House can be made by visiting the New Life Community Church website, newlifecc.org, and clicking on the “give” tab.
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What: First annual Hope Fest, a resource and recovery fair
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1
Where: Do Something Inc. Launch House, 7025 State Road 135 North, Morgantown (actually in Fruitdale area)
Cost: Free
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