The next phase of its mission is to help women on their road to recovery from addiction, its members said last week.
The project comes in the form of a support home, slated to bring in its first resident in August and comes with the name Circle of Hope.
The program gives women a place to stay after finishing rehab, said Shannon Polk Green, director and founder of Trinity. “A group support home was always a part of the goals for us as a spinoff of the original.”
(Trinity will hold an open house at its office at 1106 Roanoke Avenue Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. with a balloon release. For more information on the event, the ministry or Circle of Hope call 252-308-0111)
Iuvina Blount, who is heading up the project, said, “God brought it in my heart he was going to move me out of my normal life.”
Blount is in recovery herself — six months clean from an addiction to vodka and pain pills. “To me it’s personal. It will be a home where women can learn recovery and God. I’ve slept in Emry Park and ate from dumpsters.”
Sabrina Lawson, who will be the house manager, has been clean for 18 years and has been in the recovery field for 15 years, working at a residential treatment center in Illinois before coming to Roanoke Rapids.
Lawson says Circle of Hope is overdue in the city as there are no support homes in Roanoke Rapids addressing addiction recovery.
Green is providing the house, which is located in the Henry Street area. “I was going to sell it,” she said. “We’ve already started working on furnishing the house. We’re hoping to take the first woman in August 1.”

Story presents a donation to Green.

Green struggled with the financial decisions related to using the house for the support home. “I had went back and forth with the idea. I wasn’t real sure without financial backers. I just bit the bullet. I was led by God to move.”
Support for the project is coming from what Green describes as believers who have no specific church or denominational ties.”They believe in God,” she said. “For whatever reason they don’t have a church home. We have been supported by business owners. Even though a ministry, we have been supported by the community people who have been convicted of the ministry's message.”
Blount says the schedule of the women who come to Circle of Hope will be rigorous. “You have to go to AA, NA meetings. As addictive women, they’re going to learn to live life like any other women live.”
Green describes it as extensive aftercare. “This is after they are discharged from rehab and don’t have a place to go. The goal is to give them structure. We will be assisting them with applying for jobs, try to connect them with resources, get them gainfully employed. We’re hoping after that they will be responsible for weekly rent.”
One of the supporters of Circle of Hope is Tracy Story of Discount Tire in Roanoke Rapids. “I love our community,” he said.
After talking to a mutual friend he said, “I was totally unaware there was nowhere for women to go. It drove me to get involved. I wanted to help them raise funds to pay the light bills, pay the water. I wanted to help raise awareness of what they are doing.”

With help from Blaine Given of Roanoke Cinemas, he and Story auctioned off two movie posters, which fetched $85.

Story’s involvement also includes his business where when customers add a dollar to any purchase or service, he will match it for the life of the support home. “My hope is to raise $500 a month.”
Another person supporting the project is Wayne Ray, a Roanoke Rapids native who runs New Life Launch Pad in Wilmington. He also serves on Trinity’s leadership board. “Wayne pretty much laid the blueprint for us,” Green said. “He pretty much has saved us from making so many mistakes. He has a love of his hometown. The only thing we had to do was tailor to suit what we are doing here. He helped us avoid the pitfalls. What we saw in Wilmington was a community in recovery. That’s what we ultimately want to bring to the valley, a community in recovery.”
In addition to financial support, Circle of Hope, is looking for donations of cleaning products, hygiene items, kitchen paper products, bed linens, towels and washcloths, bedroom furniture, household items and gift cards.
Blount said the typical stay at the home is six months, but in reality it typically takes a year.
There is hope, she said, “Eventually we can get a bigger house for women with children.”
The Henry Street area house has room for four women, Lawson said. During their time at the house the women will learn to pay bills, not use the money they make to feed their addictions. “They need to learn to pay their light bills, get their own place. If it works out well, we’ll be looking to get a second house.”

Addiction comes full circle with Trinity’s original ministry to provide support to grieving mothers. Photos on the wall of its office on Roanoke Avenue are of the deceased, those who died from natural causes, car crashes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, murder, suicide and addiction.

Suicide is the leading cause of death the mothers within Trinity try to deal with, Green said, followed by heroin, car wrecks, SIDS and disease.
“In our community when we have a loss, the first thing we lose is contact,” Green said. “Beyond that bereavement period society wants to isolate themselves from them. People can’t stand their sadness because people don’t understand they haven’t gotten over the loss of a child. They become isolated quickly because the world doesn’t understand their grief.”
Green said the goal of the ministry is to give the grieving a safe and comfortable place to be together. “Just by putting them in a safe and comfortable place, that’s where the healing takes place.”
Lisa Norwood, whose 11-year-old died when run over by a personal watercraft in 2009, said the communion with others has helped. “Nobody else knows that feeling. It helps you talking about it. When you lose a child, you lose friends. I’ve learned it’s OK to be pissed off. I’m not mad at God, I’m mad at the situation. I have more compassion for other people.”