ROCKINGHAM — Kailyn Mead was among the first clients to check into Samaritan Colony’s State Employees Credit Union Women’s Recovery Center when its doors opened last month.
Mead and several other clients were also on site to tell their stories Monday for the facility’s grand opening ceremony.
Samaritan Colony Executive Director Mark Christopher welcomed the crowd and thanked the various organizations that helped make the project a reality: the SECU Foundation; the Cole Foundation; the Community Foundation of Richmond County; and the Cannon Foundation.
Other financial supporters included Sandhills Center LME/MCO (now affiliated with Trillium Health Resources), The Leon Levine Foundation, The James R. & Bronnie L. Braswell Trust, The Baxter Foundation, the state of North Carolina, the city of Rockingham, Griffin Automotive Group and other private donors, including a grant from Motiva (with help securing the grant from Quality Gas and Oil).
“Thank you, truly,” Christopher said. “Your support didn’t just build a building. It will help us educate women on how to recover from the devastation of substance use disorder, and how to lead happy and productive lives that at one time seemed to them out of reach and impossible.”
Samaritan Colony Executive Director Mark Christopher, left, and First Lady Anna Stein hold the ribbon while Samaritan Colony Board Chair Clint Ray cuts the ribbon for the SECU Women's Recovery Center on March 23.
Christopher said there were so many who played a part in the construction of the facility — churches, businesses and individuals — “more than we could name in a few minutes.”
Samaritan Colony has been helping men with addiction since 1975, and plans for the women’s center were first announced in 2018.
The 13,000-square-foot facility was designed by local firm Stogner Architecture and ground was broken in 2022. Baptists On Mission served as a subcontractor under general contractor Southern Builders on the project.
“We are deeply grateful for all who gave — time, money, material, prayers, faith, hope and, most of all, your love,” said Christopher.
Samaritan Colony chose a hickory for its donor tree, according to Christopher, because its native to North Carolina, is known for its strength, and grows together in groves.
Christopher also noted the words on the back of the entry sign, which are viewed when leaving — “It is in the shelter of each other that people live” — adding, “This is a great example of that today.”
The first clients, Christopher continued, “are the real heroes.”
“These ladies have decided to educate themselves, to work hard … to practice new behaviors that will establish and maintain a new order of things in their (lives),” Christopher said.
“I’ve seen them laugh together, I’ve seen them cry together, I’ve seen them get mad together, I’ve seen them argue, I’ve seen them fight, and I’ve seen them love,” Christopher continued. “And I’m watching them recover, and that’s what we do here … That’s why we do it and we should never forget it.”
First Lady Anna Stein, the keynote speaker for the event, is familiar with the addiction issues across the Tar Heel State, specializing in policy related to legal and illegal substances while working for the N.C. Division of Public Health.
First Lady Anna Stein speaks about the need for a women's treatment facility in the Sandhills of North Carolina.
“As I travel the state, I see that, too often, there are fewer resources to serve women with substance use disorders than there are to serve men,” Stein said. “And we know the women whom this recovery center will serve are valuable members of their families and their communities — they are daughters, sisters, wives and mothers …
“They need the chance to be healthy, to take care of so many other people in their lives,” Stein continued. “And they need the chance … to live out their own dreams for themselves.”
Last year, Stein helped launch the Unshame North Carolina campaign to end stigma related to substance use disorder.
(The RO will have more on Stein’s remarks in a future story.)
Following Stein’s speech, the audience also heard from representatives of the foundations that helped fund the project.
Mona Moon, of the SECU Board of Directors, said Samaritan Colony was one of the first recipients of the SECU Foundation’s Mission Development grant program, which supports small, rural nonprofits in the state.
The SECU Foundation initially awarded a $40,00 Capacity Building grant in 2019, followed by a $1 million grant in 2021.
“Samaritan Colony’s persistence, dedication to their mission and commitment to helping men and women lead hopeful and productive lives free from addiction have led them to this exciting day,” said Moon. “We have no doubt that this facility will have a transformative impact in our state and this area.”
Maggie Sergio, Samaritan Colony’s development director, said the Cole Foundation was one of the first to make a commitment and “helped give the building its foundation, in every sense of the word.”
Representing the Cole Foundation was Richmond County’s Gene McLaurin. Other speakers included: John Jackson of the Community Foundation of Richmond County; Suzanne Philemon of the Cannon Foundation; and Dennis Holloway of N.C. Baptists on Mission.
Jackson said Samaritan Colony has saved “many lives” over the years.
“This new service is greatly needed for women,” Jackson said. “It’s needed in our community and it’s needed in this region.”
Philemon said she was impressed when she made a site visit in 2021 and again in 2024.
“I just feel like the brightness and the thoughtfulness that went into this project is so indicative of the lives that will be changed here,” Philemon said,
(The RO will share the stories of two of the clients in a future story.)
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