Wine Country Times

As the state of California reels in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating wildfires, Santa Rosa's Women's Recovery Services (WRS) is expanding its drug addiction treatment site to address heightened homelessness rates in mothers and children. 

The Women's Recovery Services, which has operated since 1975, provides recovery resources for mothers, pregnant and prenatal women with substance dependence. The organization offers a four-month treatment program and welcomes children up to age 12. 

The Women's Recovery Services is in the midst of a capital campaign raising funds to expand its dwelling and dining facilities that, according to campaign documents, have been outgrown by the area's homeless mothers and children in need of assistance. 

The treatment site is licensed to house 20 women and 12 children at a time but can't operate at its full licensed capacity due to its facility's current size. Mothers in need of substance addiction treatment are waitlisted for a spot at the treatment site, with the state's drug and alcohol problem getting more and more prevalent. 

Jody Edwards, WRS board vice president and chairwoman of the Fund Development Committee, said that the organization is raising capital to give its treatment site a "million-dollar makeover."

"This renovation is something that we've been hoping to do for a long time," Edwards said in an interview with Wine County Times. WRS's capital campaign has been ongoing since 2016. Edwards told Wine Country Times that the organization worked for years on one particular donor.

"They gave us one-hundred thousand dollars and we thought, 'oh, my gosh, we're halfway there.' We got another donor who gave us another hundred thousand. And we thought, 'oh, my gosh, we're there. That's all we need,'" Edwards said. 

However, WRS had vastly underestimated the expansion cost, Edwards said, and decided to put together the capital campaign to raise $960,000 to cover the treatment site's renovations. 

The organization has raised $800,000 between its board and eight local philanthropists and later acquired additional capital through public donations and grants. 

Edwards said WRS has raised $954,000 out of its $960,000 goal, and is over budget by approximately $10,000 for the project's construction expenses.

The board vice president said that the renovations would focus on WRS's "yellow house," one of the treatment center's homes that houses the dining room.

"Imagine a little small, 1940 three-bedroom two-bath house," Edwards said. The house's living room is used as a classroom and dining room. "[...] It just never was large enough to have 20 women, plus a couple of staff, plus 12 children. Never. It was never large enough for that."

The current WRS facility has houses 12 to 14 women at a time and their children. 

Edwards said that the public can help support WRS by recommending its program to a loved one struggling with substance abuse and donating to the cause. 

"We all know someone that is addicted to a substance. [...] Sometimes we know someone who needs a program like this," Edwards said.

She said that government funds only cover about 65 percent of WRS's operational expenses. 

"And so the other 35 percent is what makes our program a solution [and] why we have very significant positive success rates." We are not just another hopeful service with donated funds. We come to a solution for families broken by a mother's addiction."