Summer Celebrations!

What a wonderful summer it has been so far! Our residents have continued to grow in their recovery and their identity in Christ. So far this summer, we’ve had cookouts, homemade dinners, fireworks and movies! We are currently planning a trip for our residents and staff to enjoy some tubing in Helen, Ga! We are beginning to start seeking donations for this trip. Please visit our website at Favorhouseathens.org to donate today. We believe these trips help bring our residents together to create a lifelong bond that will help them all succeed in recovery far after their time at the Favor House comes to an end.

In August:

We are so blessed to partner with Grace Fellowship Church. On August 14th, Grace Fellowship has invited us to attend their Sunday service followed by a cookout for all of our staff, residents and our families. We are looking forward to this day to worship and come together for the purpose of uniting to serve others!

We have had six new residents enter our program in the last four weeks. While we search to help them obtain employment, they have kept busy giving back to our community. We have helped a fellow friend in need after the loss of a loved one, as well as provided sack lunches for the homeless in our area. These experiences are all very humbling and we are proud to be a part of them.
Executive Director, Adam Manning was blessed with the opportunity to share his own personal recovery and speak about God’s great grace. New Haven Baptist Church allowed Adam to speak in both services on 7/31/16. His story of redemption over addiction is truly amazing. We are all so very proud of him! Stay tuned into our Facebook as we will post the video as soon as it becomes available!

Accountability and Recovery

A Monthly Letter from Dr. Charles McDonald, Assistant Program Director

For the addict or alcoholic who has found true recovery, accountability is essential. A friend of mine in the addiction field often says, “If I got a buck from everyone who has told me, “that doesn’t work for me” I’d be a millionaire.” Typically, when an addict states that something doesn’t work for him, in reality he is telling you “I don’t like that so I don’t do that and if I don’t stay sober and clean, it’s not my fault.”
When an alcoholic or an addict reaches out for help, he has little idea what it means to be “in recovery.” Very quickly, many new residents will be resistant to accountability. Yet, accountability is a means to an end. Without accountability there can be no recovery. Period.
When I say desired end, I presume that the addict really wants to stay sober. This is an important qualification because not all that say they do really want it. What they may want is for things to change, the misery that accompanies active addiction, the money problems, the relationship troubles, and so on, without actually changing anything at all. In fact, most untreated addicts would like to learn how to use and not have any of these problems. Of course, they can’t, but exactly what has to change is still a mystery to them. Sure, they have ideas about what needs to change, but a deep realization that their whole way of dealing with life, and their place in it, has not yet occurred. This is recovery in a nutshell: a process of realization that I must change everything to be sober.
The process of early recovery requires surrender after surrender. It only begins with surrender of substance use. All the surrenders after this are the giving up of many ideas, old and new (from the untreated addict brain) that simply do not work in regards to recovery. This is why accountability and recovery go hand in hand. Addicts want to be left alone by others. They are resistant to doing things any other way than their own way. And they will use a myriad of plausible reasons why they should continue to do things their way.
At Favor House, we encourage our residents to take responsibility for their actions both in the past and in the present. While we feel that unaddressed shame and the burden of caring that shame is unhealthy, it is our belief that it is only when we hold ourselves accountable and encourage others to hold us accountable that we can earnestly begin the journey of recovery. Our residents are held accountable for waking up on time, going to work, completing chores and assignments, attending AA meetings, calling sponsors and budgeting. These are only a few examples but you get the idea! Recovery takes commitment and it means following the “suggestions” of the program and others.
God Bless,
Charles McDonald

In our Next Newsletter: The Big Book, The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

July 2016

Happy (sober) Fourth of July!

We hope everyone had a wonderful, sober and safe Fourth of July! Here at the Favor House, we celebrated with some good cooking and a trip to see “Independence Day,” which was gracefully all provided by our Executive Director Adam Manning! The day after, our residents went to Veterans Park in Oconee County to enjoy the fireworks and entertainment. We are looking forward to the rest of this summer and are aiming to plan more activities for our residents in the near future.

In July:

We are so proud of all of our residents and the progress they have made during their time here at Favor House. All of our residents are currently employed and are working towards getting their lives back in order. We want to congratulate one of our guys who recently obtained his license after 14 YEARS! We are so proud of them all!  Each Sunday afternoon, the residents of Favor House are led by Charles McDonald, Assistant Director in a discussion of “Relapse Prevention.” While it may appear either highly academic or downright boring, there is no discussion of greater importance. By nature, every addict or alcoholic is relapse prone and is in need of identifying the warning signs of a possible relapse but more importantly, needs to develop the tools necessary to avoid “relapse thinking.” Our primary resource is Terence Gorski’s book, Staying Sober: A Guide for Relapse Prevention. Gorski is the head of the CENAPS Corporation (Center for Applied Sciences). More information regarding Gorski or CENAPS may be found at www.cenaps.com.

Perhaps you know someone who is in need of our help. Where do you begin? What do you say to convince them that their life is worth more than the bottle? We are here to help! There are numerous steps you can take to direct a loved one or friend to The Favor House.

Be open and honest about your concerns.

Direct them to our website and Facebook to learn more about us for themselves.

Set boundaries for yourself. You cannot solely be responsible for the recovery of anyone else. Try as hard as you’d like, but ultimately; the person in need of recovery must desire to change.
If you would like more information on how to refer someone to get help at The Favor House, please contact Charles McDonald at 706-612-8296 or send us an email at Thefavorhouse@gmail.com.

“Life is a series of Relapses and Recoveries”

-George Ade

A Look Inside Our Program

A monthly letter from Dr. Charles McDonald, Assistant Program Director.

It is our desire at Favor House Ministries to provide the “tools” necessary to lead a sober and clean life. First and foremost, we want our residents to understand that there is a loving and compassionate God who has not given up on them. We believe God to be a God of restoration in mind, body, spirit and relationships. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ can lead a man from going through the motions to a joyous and purposeful life.
What we have come to discover is that the most effective means by which a man can have the best shot at long term sobriety is to incorporate Twelve Step Meetings into their daily routines. As alcoholics and addicts the primary meetings are Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Each of our residents attend at least five meetings a week. Even while maintaining full time jobs, some of our residents attend an average of eight to ten a week! As staff, we also care for our own recovery by attending one meeting each day. As a transitional program, we strive to make a residents re-entry into “normal” life as seamless as possible. Active involvement in Twelve Step Meetings is essential to success in recovery.
While it may come as a surprise, Athens is known as a true “recovery city,” with over 150 meetings held weekly. On any given day, someone in recovery has the opportunity to choose from ten or more meetings! There could not be a greater area than Athens-Clarke County for a man to “practice” recovery.
There are at least five reasons we believe these meeting are essential:
1) A man can see firsthand that recovery is possible. When one is just beginning their journey in recovery it appears incredibly daunting and nearly impossible. In these meetings, we see the “program” WORKS!
2) Meetings are a “safe place.” One can rest assured that outside the 4 walls of an AA meeting, they will remain anonymous. “Who was here and what is heard here, STAYS HERE” is something of which we are reminded time and again.
3) During these meetings, men receive the opportunities to learn from others. Each person shares from their own experiences. By listening closely to others we gain further knowledge to live a life in recovery.
4) We won’t be judged. Let’s face it, those of us who are addicts and alcoholics have done MANY things of which we are not proud. In meetings, we find others who can relate to us, accept up and help us change.
5) Finally, we are reminded of the consequences of our own actions. At any given meeting, we are reminded that any one of us at any time could pick up another drink or go purchase another drug. Through our honest sharing we are reminded that it is just not worth it!
God Bless,

Charles McDonald

In our next Newsletter: Accountability

What’s the Latest…

God is continuing to bless us here at Favor House Ministries!  Instead of completely moving properties, we have been given the opportunity to expand into FOUR new apartments, located behind our present location.  TWO of the apartments are officially ours to use and the other two apartments will be available to begin using as of August 1, 2016. This allows our ministry to reach out to twice as many men in need of our program. In order to be prepared to handle the increase in residents, we are in need of basic house hold items, twin size beds, chairs, couches, etc.  For more details regarding this need, please visit our website @ www.favorhouseathens.org and look under “How to Help”. There you will find a complete list of affordable items our ministry is always in need of.  For questions or further information about how you can help, you can email us @ thefavorhouse@gmail.com or call us @ 706-521-8552.

In the month of February:

We have had very generous donation’s this past month!

• Tuckston United Methodist Church funded a purchase of Big Books, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, as well as Recovery Bibles!
• We have also been blessed by First United Methodist Church with a $750.00 donation. These donations have allowed us the opportunity to enhance our program and ensures each resident has all the necessary tools to be successful on their recovery journey!

We have also launched a few new Sponsorship Opportunities!  Here at Favor House, we thrive largely off of donations and we want our donors to always feel confident in knowing exactly what their donations are being used for.  We have developed specific Sponsorship Plans to better designate where your donations could go and to directly fund different aspects of a man’s entry into our program.  We have 3 different options…they all include our Admission Fee ($350.00), as well as different increments of weekly program fees.

• Silver Plan – $500.00 (Admin Fee: $350.00 / First Week’s Rent: $150.00)
• Gold Plan – $950.00 (Admin Fee: $350.00 / First Month’s Rent: $600.00)
• Platinum Plan – $1,550.00 (Admin Fee: $350.00 / First 2 Month’s Rent: $1,200)

A large portion of our residents come to Favor House directly off the street or financially unable to pay our admission fee/weekly rent. These Sponsorship Plans allow us to take these men in and buys them some time to find jobs. These specific donations have the potential to LITERALLY change a life and a family forever. This wouldn’t be possible without you! As always, THANK YOU for your continued prayers and support!