Corner House has more than its share of success stories.
There’s the college graduate who lost his business to drugs and alcohol and has now started again on the West Coast.
There’s the woman who left jail with the heroin addiction she came in with, who managed to start over and earn a nursing degree.
There’s story after story of how people recovered their lives and their dignity with the help of Emporia’s resident “halfway house” for drug and alcohol abuse.
Now Corner House needs its own success story.
The recovery center is within $219,000 of getting the money it needs to tear down its old home and build a new one that’s nearly triple the size and could handle twice the number of clients. But it has to happen soon. If that $219,000 doesn’t appear by June 29, about $400,000 in challenge grants will go away.
“We’ve been working on it really diligently, but when you look at a June deadline, you say ‘Oh, my goodness,’” board member Basil Kessler said.
All together, Corner House is trying to raise $1.3 million to replace its 80-year-old residence at 418 Market St. Over the years, Kessler said, the building has been tinkered with and modified to meet its needs — an office tacked on here, a freezer squeezed in there.
But after a certain point, Kessler said, there’s only so much you can do for a building that’s just falling apart.
“It’s like putting perfume on a pig,” he said. “To try to fix it up in any meaningful way would be cost-prohibitive.”
Corner House has been part of Emporia since 1974. It is one of the few residential treatment programs in Kansas, giving individuals who are recovering from drug or alcohol addiction a place to stay — as well as group and individual therapy, legal services and even help with employment.
The group experience can be very powerful, Kessler said, allowing residents to talk out things they’ve tried and experiences they’ve had.
“It can be very empowering to say ‘You can make these choices in a safe way for you and the people who love you,’” Kessler said.
That would be echoed by many of the residents. As part of its campaign, Corner House collected stories from those who had gone through the program in the past. One of them, a Vietnam veteran named Robert, had depression, liver disease, a cocaine addiction, a failed marriage — and a child to raise.
“I spent 20 years drifting in this mess,” he told Corner House. “I had many issues coming back from the war. Not until Corner House was I able to overcome them. My life is not perfect, but without these people — their compassion and toughness — I would have been a forgotten casualty of that war. I am so grateful.”
Last year, Corner House treated almost 160 people, of which 85 percent were at or below the poverty level and 60 percent were below the age of 30. Since its creation, more than 3,500 people have been helped by the non-profit.
Some stay only two weeks, some stay for months before leaving. Either way, its supporters are glad to help. But they can’t help feeling they could do more.
That’s where the new building comes in. It would stay on the same site as the old one, keeping vital areas like the courts and the job center nearby — many of Corner House’s clients lack transportation for anything distant. But the new 11,000 square-foot center would put more dormitory space on the top floor and basement, allowing at least 20 beds, maybe more. It would also eventually allow for two new services: a long-term women’s residential program and a social detoxification program. The latter would allow arrested criminals to “dry out” at Corner House before being locked up rather than having a deputy drive up to two hours to find an appropriate place.
The challenge grants come from the Jones Trust of Emporia and the Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla. If everything comes through, work would start in late summer or early fall and take about a year to finish.
For now, the house’s supporters are taking some of the same advice they give clients — remember that you can be successful and achieve the goals you set out to do.
“We intend to make the goal,” Kessler said. “We have every intention of that. And we’ve got to push hard.”