CHARLESTON, W.Va – A near 60-year-old home for men seeking recovery in Charleston is on its way to major growth as the Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home continues construction on its “Phase II” expansion.
KVFH began work in February on 12 new sober living apartments in the building adjacent to its location on Virginia Street in downtown Charleston. Aided by opioid settlement funds granted through the city, that project is slated to be complete in the first quarter of 2027.
The new apartments are designed to allow residents who complete the first part of KVFH’s program to reside in a new “sobriety campus” as they transition back into life on their own.
“Time in structured life is important for people that are getting better from opiate addiction, and the more time we provide for them in those spaces, and we believe a year is the essential time. so they can be here for 12 months on our sobriety campus here on Virginia Street and then six months in our affordable housing apartments next door,” KVFH Executive Director Dick Daugherty said.
According to Daugherty, the rate of long-term sobriety jumps from one-in-three at six months of treatment to 70% at 12 months. The new apartments will allow men in the KVFH program to live affordably while assimilating back into day-to-day life.
“People don’t have to let money take them out or the problems with things that happen when you go back into the real world. We want them to be prepared with education. We want to get their teeth fixed. We want them to get good jobs. We want them to get their cases adjudicated in court. They’re sick people getting well, not bad people getting good,” Daugherty said.
Numerous men touched by KVFH’s work maintain ties to the organization and some are contributing to the Phase II development. Jeremiah Meadows graduated from the program in July and took part in the demolition phase of construction.
“I demoed that whole upstairs. We tore everything out of there, and that’s part of my story too. I carry that with me, and like I said, that’s my home,” he said.
On average, 82 men go through the KVFH program each year, and the addition of the new apartments will increase that number to around 110. Daugherty believes this expansion will be a big step in helping more men affected by addiction learn how to face life without substance abuse.
“Serenity is the ability to live life comfortably with unresolved problems. Once the problems I have are solved, I have new problems, but we can deal with them constructively and we can deal with them without going back to use,” he said.
Meadows credits KVFH with showing him how to live as Daugherty described. He hopes to see the new apartments help more men make the changes that he has.
“It’s a miracle. They’ve brought me a long way. I’ve got my life back together. I have a house. I have a good job. I’m very blessed,” he said.
More information on the Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home and its programs is available at KVFH.org.