BRENHAM, Texas — A men's recovery center in Brenham feels the aftereffects of the severe winter storm that raged through Texas.
Adult & Teen Challenge in the Brazos Valley aims to help those battling a drug and alcohol addiction. It provides men with a five-acre campus to partake in courses, counseling and activities to help lead them on the road to recovery.
“We are a crisis center program that provides help, hope and healing," said Jonathan Mitchell, the director of Adult & Teen Challenge in Brazos Valley.
Help, hope and healing are something the center could use some for themselves right now. The center used to be former St. Jude Hospital, so a lot of its plumbing, appliances and other fixtures are older.
During the severe winter storm, the Brenham crisis facility faired pretty well. Mitchell said they never lost power.
However, like many others, their problems came once the storm ended and things began to warm up. They realized the damage the storm caused to their building's exterior.
"We had a lot of leaks," Mitchell said. "A lot of leaks.”
With the help from the community and local plumbers from ministries in town, the Adult & Teen Challenge was able to get many of those leaks fixed within a matter of days.
“We would like to thank the Brazos Valley and Brenham community for what they have done thus far," Mitchell said.
The recovery center still had one substantial problem they're looking to solve. Problems from the storm caused the tankless water heater in the main building to break. It supplied the hot water for men to take showers.
They’ve been able to temporarily get hot water to the building, but they still need a permanent solution as they continue to help those on the road to recovery.
The United Way of the Brazos Valley is using funds from the Winter Weather Recovery Fund to help local non-profits impacted by the storm, like Adult & Teen Challenge. They're hoping by providing relief, local non-profits can use their funds for what it's intended for: helping the community.
"We’re continuing to come together," said Alison Prince, the president and CEO of United Way of the Brazos Valley. "I see that over and over again when we work with our partnering agencies by the resilience of those organizations and their staff.”