Featured Grant Story: B-Hive
Community Foundation of West Texas recently awarded a grant to B-Hive Recovery Ministry. The money was requested as the B-Hive was moving and establishing two homes – one for men and one for women in Lubbock. The desire was to prepay rent for several months while supplying the needs for the home such as dining tables, beds, and dressers.
From its inception past its second birthday, B-Hive has been solely financed by those living and ministering there. The co-founders each worked full-time jobs to make sure bills were paid, lights stayed on and water kept running. As need for their services grew, a move from one location on the outskirts of Lubbock to two homes inside the city limits was necessary.
The B-Hive provides structured and supportive supervised sober-living emphasizing 12-step recovery from active addiction. All while encouraging an empowering relationship with a Loving God. The B-Hive assists clients in developing a firm foundation in the recovery process, learning how to maintain this foundation, and sharing their recovery with others.
Now close to three years old, the B-Hive was born in the hearts and minds of a small group in the recovery community with the desire to support others as they regain their lives and grow spiritually. The approach is a marriage of working the 12-step program and intentionally focusing on one’s relationship with a loving God. Through professional and personal experiences, Co-founder Rusty Fuller believes that chances are slim that someone can recover long-term without faith. Fuller notes that most programs are either spiritually based or 12-step focused. Through his own journey, he has realized that things aren’t always so neatly compartmentalized or labeled in life. “Where once we only leaned on the 12-step approach for recovery, we have come to place pursuing relationship and faith as our primary approach, remaining advocates and participants in the 12-step recovery process as well.”
One of our staff sat down with two B-Hive graduates and heard two different but equally harrowing stories. Both recovering addicts. Two men wracked by heartbreak and broken relationships. One blinded by pride and rebellion, the other bearing the weight of debilitating shame.
JAMES & MICAH
James was introduced to meth by a close family member at a young age. As his life and addiction progressed, he spent time in jail, on probation, in an outpatient program, using again, as an inpatient, attending meetings, and moving back home. Following a break from long-time partner, he moved in with his sister and her boyfriend. The situation wasn’t ideal for someone in recovery. A mentor introduced him to B-Hive to continue his sober-living by helping others.
James’ biggest reservation with B-Hive was the rules. He didn’t want to be told what to do or controlled. All residents are given the choice to be a part of the community and live there or not. If one chooses not to abide by the rules laid out, rules that include chores and curfew, they don’t have to stay. James says he decided, “I’m willing to do anything to further my sobriety so I can pass it on.” And that was it for him. He believes focusing on others’ sobriety helps him daily.
Now 7-years sober, James lives in his own place. He has reunited with his adult daughter that was adopted as a baby while he was still a teenager. He’s happy to report in the last year he became a grandfather. When asked what he gained from his time at B-Hive, James thought for a moment and responded, “B-Hive gave me courage. Courage to take second chances.”
Micah has journeyed through sobriety before. First getting clean in the early 2000s, Micah stayed sober for 8 years. Amid big life changes and big stress, he exchanged his recovery for alcohol and meth. Shame gripped him. Attempting to run from it, he turned his back on those that loved him most. He left his young wife and newborn son. As his shame grew into suffocating remorse and guilt, he ran farther. Finding himself in Montana with his oldest son, then 15, and his mother. Life with his son was good. He was off the meth needle, but complete sobriety was not to be found. He would wake up in the middle of the night requiring a drink to fall back to sleep. At his son’s high school graduation, Micah recalls his entire body shaking because of his desperate dependence on alcohol. Once his son left for college, Micah realized the need to get back home.
When he returned to Texas, he was living on the streets. Homeless, hungry, drunk and high, he was arrested in October 2016. Micah recalls the arresting police officer as a savior. While cuffed in the backseat, he remembers telling the officer, “you just saved my life.” Looking at him through the rearview mirror, the officer responded, “I know.”
Micah knew something had to change. That day it did. Locked up 24 days, Micah says he “found Jesus on the jailhouse floor.” When it was time for him to be released, he asked the officer to help him plan for the other side. He knew he needed support and accountability. Having known the co-founders of B-Hive from years before, he was invited to move in, let go of his past, and grab onto hope.
He is no longer living at B-Hive. He progressed into House management and leadership. Micah plugged back into church, is working a steady job, paying his rent and bills, driving his own car, seeing both his sons, and leading Bible and Big Book studies at B-Hive. He’s also excited to share that he recently married!
Micah and James are leading meaningful and productive lives now. Both men are heavily involved in the recovery community and B-Hive ministry.
The Community Foundation of West Texas exists to improve the quality of life for all people in our area through organized philanthropy. B-Hive and similar organizations drive us to continue doing what we do.
