Caritas reopens 'life-changing' Dinwiddie campus with Recovery Community Day celebration

DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. — Caritas officially reopened its Dinwiddie campus Saturday, marking the occasion with a grand reopening celebration and Recovery Community Day event at 700 Dinwiddie Avenue — the home of the Healing Place for Men and the Caritas Emergency Shelter for Men.

The event featured food, games, a petting zoo, community partner connections and tours of the newly renovated space.

Clara Stokes, chief advancement officer at Caritas, said the reopening celebrates both the renovated facility and the people it serves.

"First and foremost, we're celebrating the grand reopening of this space at 700 Dinwiddie Avenue, which is the home to the Healing Place for Men, as well as our Caritas Emergency Shelter for Men," Stokes said. "And we're also celebrating Recovery Day, which is a community event to celebrate those in recovery, our participants, family members, the recovery community as a whole."

The building first opened in 2005 and underwent its first major renovation ahead of Saturday's reopening. Stokes said the work went far beyond cosmetic upgrades.

"We have completely renovated really the guts that you don't see — all the important parts of it, air and electricity and lights," Stokes said. "But we've also made a beautiful facelift to the space, so it's really more conducive to healing and dignity. It's just a warm and inviting place now for all the folks going through the program."

The Dinwiddie campus houses two programs. The emergency shelter provides 36 beds as part of the greater homeless services continuum of care. The Healing Place for Men is a free, 24/7, open-access 12-step recovery program that requires no referral.

"The Healing Place is open to all. We are a 12-step program and anyone can come. You don't have to be referred. It's completely free for anybody. It's open 24/7, so anyone that's ready for help can come to us," Stokes said.

Stokes said the facility exists because of community and donor support, and described the impact in the words she hears most often from participants.

"They loved us until I could love myself. It's really a space for healing and recovery, and it's life-changing and life-saving," Stokes said.