The first year of freedom: The Courier-Times

After more than a year of offering help, Freedom House, coordinated and directed by Michael McDonald, is working toward fixing the drug addiction problem in Henry County.

The idea for Freedom House was sparked one Sunday in 2012, when Jim Becker, lead pastor at Foursquare Gospel Church, commented on the drug problem in Henry County in the middle of his sermon.

“There’s a drug problem in the community, and we all know it,” Becker said that day. “And we’re going to do something about it.”

It was out of character for him to veer away from the prepared sermon, and he didn’t tell anyone beforehand that he was going to make this comment.

One more unusual thing happened that day: Michael McDonald was sitting in the congregation. McDonald and his wife, Karen, were missionaries in Russia at the time. They had spent nearly a decade in Russia working with people addicted to drugs and helping to rehabilitate them. The couple never planned to move back to the United States, but Becker’s sermon got them thinking of what they could do to help in Henry County.

“Starting this house has probably been the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life,” McDonald said.

Becker invited those people from the congregation who were personally affected by drug addiction to meet at the church. From those meetings, they drew up a declaration describing their ideas to help the community. According to the declaration, the church resolved “to act with compassion and provide ministry for addicts and their families,” and also, “to eliminate, not manage, drug abuse and contend for a peaceful and drug free Henry County.” From these two statements, Freedom House began to form.

A family at Foursquare bought the duplex property on A Avenue and donated it to the church. The location of Freedom House, however, was not entirely well-received by the community. The house, located at 1510 A Ave., is in a residential neighborhood and some were worried about what would happen if the addiction rehabilitation house moved in.

“I understand that,” McDonald said about those who were against the location of Freedom House. “If I had children in this neighborhood, and somebody said ‘well, they’re bringing a bunch of drug addicts in here, and starting some type of drug facility,’ I’d be concerned too.”

In order to dispel some of the neighborhood’s concerns, McDonald said that the men living in the house are supervised at all times by he and his wife, and they don’t tolerate bad behavior. Becker also said that there is a very selective process when they decide to allow another resident.

To McDonald, this house isn’t the ideal location. He said that since it’s in the middle of the city, it’s hard to secure privacy for the residents. In the future, he hopes to either move to the country and purchase some land, or open a string of homes across Indiana.

A petition to stop Freedom House from locating on A Avenue was passed around in the city and county council meetings before it officially opened in October 2014. The Courier-Times attempted to contact some of the residents who opposed Freedom House at a neighborhood meeting in July 2014, but received no response by presstime.

A Grand Avenue resident said Friday that she hasn’t had any concerns with Freedom House in the year that it’s been there.

“I thought it was okay,” said Lucy Moore, who lives within a block of A Avenue. “I’m all for it being there if it helps addicts get off drugs.”

McDonald said Freedom House is not a recovery home, but a Christian discipleship home for men living with drug addiction. One goal of the program is to change the perception of former drug addicts who are recovered.

“That’s what I was, that’s not what I am now,” said Keith Fisher, a resident of Freedom House.

Freedom House also doesn’t admit a lot of men at one time. When Freedom House first opened in 2014, they only housed one man in order to test the waters. Since it opened, there have been seven men in and out of the house, and currently there are three men living there.

Fisher came to Freedom House on Sept. 1, 2015 after being jailed in Fayette County for four months. He said he was an addict for more than 14 years before getting help and his recovery has taken a lot of patience and endurance. Since joining the nine-month program, he has passed 26 drug tests and works full time at Ferrell Builders.

“God has a plan for everyone, and addiction is not in His plan. So it’s reassuring, you know, to have God with you,” Fisher said. “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Logan Crabtree, a newer resident, has only been in the program for a few weeks. McDonald met with him while he was incarcerated and told him about the program. Though Crabtree only had about two months left on his sentence, he opted to come to Freedom House for a nine-month period in order to get help.

“It makes me want to change my life, to just turn away from the drugs and the past that I have,” he said. “I’ve died three times with the addictions I have, and I shouldn’t be here. I feel like this is my last chance to get right, and there couldn’t be a better place that I could be right now to do that.”

Even though he didn’t grow up in a church environment, Crabtree is thinking about staying in New Castle after the program is done to be an advocate for teenagers through Foursquare Church.

Another resident, Michael French, had been to multiple rehabilitation centers that were supposed to be faith-based.

“I just walked out because they weren’t worth it. Then I’d just get back home and start using again,” French said.

A friend of his had been to House of Ruth, a rehab home for women, in Connersville. She was the one who brought French to Freedom House, and he has been there for just over a month.

Becker, as part of the Abuse Reduction Intervention Education Support (ARIES) program, surveyed residents of Henry County about addiction programs. According to his results, about 75 out of 234 respondents from Henry County said they would know where to go to find quality addiction treatment for themselves or someone they know. He hopes that Freedom House will be part of the solution in providing help to those living with addiction.

Living Free, an extension of Freedom House, is a class offered at Foursquare Church. It is a faith-based non-residential program that offers the same kind of help as Freedom House.

To reach McDonald at Freedom House, call 765-520-6500 or email him at freedomhouse@gotofoursquare.com.

*This was an interesting story to write because it was an update on an issue from the previous year. I spoke with the director of Freedom House, the pastor at Foursquare Church and three of the residents at Freedom House. They were all generous with their stories and allowed me to take pictures of them to run with the article.