CULLMAN – Opening its doors in 2011 to women who most in society had already closed the door to, Restoring Women Outreach (RWO) specializes in pulling women out of the trenches of the disease of addiction and back into being productive, powerful and inspirational women in society.
Executive Director Carol Berry can’t help but brag on the women who have worked diligently to get their lives back on track. “They work hard, attend up to three 12-step meetings a day, actively participate in Bible Study, fulfill their community service obligations and pay ALL fines, child support, probation/parole and restitution.”
In the five years since RWO was formed, their residents have paid back well over $78,000 to both the City of Cullman and Cullman County. Berry noted that, with the ladies’ many responsibilities, “sometimes they have less than $5 to get them to the next week and yet they continue to push forward and usually with a smile! They inspire me every day.”
With RWO’s continued growth over the past years, including the addition of a third recovery home and thrift store operated in Trimble, Summer Blalock was an answer to a prayer.
Blalock is RWO’s new program director who came to the organization with two years of experience in the field. Berry said, “Summer has a true heart for what she is doing. We have run our organization since 2011 with volunteers and only two part-time employees. Adding Summer to our staff has been a blessing.”
Berry, Blalock, all of the current RWO residents, graduates of the RWO program and even those ladies who didn’t see the program to the end all have some things in common – hope. Any day that a person suffering from the disease of addiction wakes up and takes a breath of air is a day of hope for growth and redemption.
Berry summed it up best. “Both our houses are full of amazing women that are working hard to learn how to live and be ALL God created them to be!”
That is inspiration, dedication and faith at work in a way that we rarely see in the 21st century.
For more information about Restoring Women Outreach, its programs or how you can help, please contact by mail at Restoring Women Outreach, Inc., P.O. Box 307, Cullman, AL 35056, by phone at 256-727-6531 or online at http://qrne.ws/rwo.
