To Portage Mayor Austin Bonta, the Portage Recovery Association’s new home is a bigger deal than attracting a Target store.
“The Portage Recovery Association is essential to creating the kind of community we want to live in,” he said at Saturday’s ribbon cutting for PRA.
“There is no place in Indiana that alcoholism, addiction, is not a problem,” he said. But in Portage, the community is embracing efforts to address that problem rather than sweep it under the rug.
Northwest Health’s donation of a $750,000 building on Lute Road, near Willowcreek Road, is “really going to be a symbol of the transformation of so many lives,” Bonta said.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan said the peer-to-peer counseling offered at the PRA building is essential, sending addicts of all stripes the message that they are not alone.
“It’s giving people a second chance,” he said.
Jake Monhaut, PRA’s new executive director, understands that well. He’s in recovery himself.
“I was told to stay away from old people, places and things,” he said. “I was confused, scared and desperate. The options to have fellowship were slim. There was a picnic here and a cookout there, but not much else at the time.”
He set about to change that. The PRA started hosting more events, sometimes two or three a month. “We were creating something,” he said.
Eventually, the agency outgrew its space and started shopping for a new home.
That’s when Portage Economic Development Co. Executive Director Andy Maletta got involved. Northwest Health was looking to give away its unused building, and the PRA needed a larger home it could afford. Maletta connected the PRA and Northwest Health to make the deal happen last year. On New Year’s Eve, the PRA took ownership of the property.
Now the building has been remodeled for the PRA’s use with extra space rented out to give the agency rental income to help maintain the building.
“When people walk into our doors, we want to give them every opportunity to change their lives, rebuild their families and be productive members of society,” Monhaut said.
“This place will be able to give anyone, any time, who has been to hell and back, an opportunity to change their life,” he said. “This place will offer anyone who needs a meeting, some one-on-one counseling or an ear to listen to them, a chance.”
“We are an organization where children are welcome, spouses are welcome and members of the community are welcome. We are an organization that won’t turn you away because of the crimes you committed, the drugs you did or the time you spent in jail. We, members of the recovering community, understand where you’ve been, and we’re here to help you,” Monhaut said.
Porter County Commissioner Barb Regnitz, who donated a couch to PRA, said the agency’s response touched her and her husband. “They were so grateful for the things that we were trying to get rid of,” she said.
Regnitz helped the county decide where to spend money from the opioid lawsuit settlement. PRA received a chunk of it.
“Jake was the one for me that stood out,” she said. “He’s the only person in that community that is leading an organization that is in recovery himself.”
Maletta said he could feel the “Portage energy” in the room Saturday. “I didn’t see the vision that you did,” he told Monhaut, but he could when he saw the finished product.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
