Medford, Ore. – Ontrack held an open house tonight, to show neighbors the new location for its dad’s house. The addiction recovery organization’s program allows father’s to stay connected to their kids while receiving treatment for substance abuse.
Ontrack has faced push back from residents on the new program. But tonight, neighbors were invited inside to learn more about this new recovery facility.
The final renovations on the house for father’s recovering from substance abuse are almost complete.
“This is our new dad’s program residence, it has the capacity to house 10 dads who are in recovery, and we can also handle seven children, children of the dad’s who are in treatment,” Ontrack Communications Director, Eddie Wallace said.
This $160,00 project was heavily opposed by some neighbors at the start. Thursday, Ontrack followed through on a promise made at a meeting in March, and held an open house for neighbors to get an inside look at the property. The hope is to clear up any misconceptions about the program housed there.
“These are people who really want to get well and really want to be upstanding members of society, and I think people understand that this is just part of the process of getting better,” he said.
Neighbors in the area were concerned about a drug and alcohol rehab program housed in their backyards.
“They’re concerned about prices going down, their house value, and that these people would be out roaming around and doing drugs, getting into trouble,” neighbor, Laura said.
Despite initial push back on the project, Ontrack thinks the open house has opened minds, and hopefully made the neighborhood feel a little more comfortable.
“Mostly it’s been a kind of cautious optimism that I’ve felt from the neighbors, and we keep saying and continue to keep saying let us know how we can be the best possible neighbor we can be,” Wallace said.
Ontrack still has a few renovations to make, including a fence promised to residents during the open forum earlier this spring.
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