JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
The new Hope4Recovery house will soon take over the former Shirley Grace Pregnancy Center in Berlin after likely closing on a sale of the property by the end of September. The center, meanwhile, will move into another building on the same property.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Aug. 30, 2018) A new nonprofit recovery home on 10226 Old Ocean City Boulevard in Berlin could be open by the end of the year, according to Hope4Recovery Executive Director Patrice Ottey.

In a phone interview Tuesday morning, Ottey said she recently met with the fire marshal and was told the house needs new smoke alarms and sprinklers. She expects to close on purchasing the property by Sept. 30.

Ottey said installation of new fire suppression systems would take about two weeks and the next step would be setting up State of Maryland accreditation.

What’s more, she said the current occupant, the Shirley Grace Pregnancy Center, would move into a back building on the same property to continue its services there.

“They’re going to be outfitting that and, hopefully, they won’t have a break in services for their clients,” Ottey said. “We’ll have a little bit of a window to get them to the back building and get them open while we’re doing construction.”

Discussions with representatives from the center occurred over the summer, with the goal of finding a way to keep Shirley Grace running, Ottey said.

“We realized that we use a lot of the same services, and we hope to build onto that building in the back in the future and have counseling services there,” she said. “That’s kind of a short-term, but long-term goal over the next couple of years, to apply for grants and have that service as well, because a lot of our clients have similar issues – not all of them, but some of them – so, they require [addictions] counseling as well.

“We’re really excited and they’re amazing people,” she added.

In a perfect world, Ottey said, the Hope4Recovery Center would be open by Nov. 15.

Ottey founded a similar operation, the Douglas K. Hamilton House for Recovery, in the Newton neighborhood of Salisbury last year.

She described Hope4Recovery in Berlin as “a safe, structured, sober living environment for those in active recovery,” adding the facility would be a “level two” accredited dwelling operating under the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration. Level one houses are self-run and level two include a live-in house manager.

Ideally, Ottey said she would like to phase in use of the new home, although that may be difficult because two recovery houses in Salisbury recently closed.

“Some of those long-term guys are still in need and want to live in a recovery home, so they are literally calling or texting me daily,” she said. “As long as it’s a different array of people and not all coming from the same inpatient facility … if we can have a broad pool of applicants, it makes for a more stable home.”

Hope4Recovery on Monday launched on online fundraising campaign to help furnish the new center and pay for the fire suppression systems. For more information or to donate, visit www.facebook.com/Hope4RecoveryInc.

Donations can also be mailed to Hope4Recovery Inc., P.O. Box 1746, Ocean Pines, Maryland, 21811.