Zonta Foundation of Southwest Florida awards $11,300 to SWFAS
The Zonta Foundation of Southwest Florida has awarded an $11,300 grant Southwest Florida Addiction Services (SWFAS) to help furnish the new women’s halfway house under construction on Dixie Parkway in Fort Myers.
The funds will be used to buy bedroom furnishings and other items for the new 16-bed facility, which will house 50 to 60 women per year who have completed the residential treatment program and moved into the halfway house for extended treatment. The women’s halfway house is expected to open in May.
“We are very grateful to the ladies of the Zonta Foundation of Southwest Florida for helping us to acquire mattresses and linens for the women in treatment,” said SWFAS Transitional Living Center (TLC) Director Rosemary Boisvert. “Providing a home-like environment for individuals recovering from substance abuse is a key part of the recovery process.”
Currently, the TLC provides residential treatment for 35 men and women with drug and/or alcohol problems in either a short-term residential program (one month) or in a four to six-month transitional living program.
Permanent supportive housing also is offered for an additional 34 individuals and up to two families in a variety of duplexes on the TLC campus that stretches from Dixie Parkway to Grand Avenue in central Fort Myers.
Residents of permanent supportive housing are expected to live a drug-free lifestyle, obtain work and pay monthly rent that is based on their income. The facility is supported by 24/7 staff on the TLC campus and medical management is available, as needed, by the medical staff already in place at the SWFAS Detoxification Center on Evans Avenue.
SWFAS is the most comprehensive substance abuse treatment and prevention program in Southwest Florida, serving 6,000 people per year from ages 9 to 90. SWFAS offers outpatient and residential programs for both adults and youngsters from five locations in Lee County and two in Hendry County. In addition, SWFAS provides detoxification services for adults, prevention programming, and an Employee Assistance Program for about 80 Southwest Florida businesses.
SWFAS services are not free. Fees are charged on a sliding scale, based on family income. In many cases, private insurance is accepted. SWFAS is a United Way agency.
For more information, contact Boisvert at 239-338-2977 or visit www.swfas.org.