Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home announces expansion of sober living facility

CHARLESTON, W.Va – Addiction treatment is expanding in downtown Charleston as the Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home announced plans to convert a building adjacent to its current facility into apartments for men in its program.

Dick Daugherty

According to KVFH, nearly 1300 applicants have been turned away over the last five years due to lack of space, and this project aims to remedy that.

“We’re going to add 12 more sober living beds: private beds for men in our phase 2 part of our program. Ultimately, we’ll have 47 beds in total,” KVFH executive director Dick Daugherty said.

The new building, located at 1123-25 Virginia St. E, formerly housed both a medical practice and a law office. Daugherty said because the building needs to be retrofitted to serve as housing, a significant construction project is on the way in partnership with Jarrett Construction.

“We have to basically gut the entire building and start over again with the structure, and that’s where Mr. Jarrett comes in,” Daugherty said.

Jarrett Construction founder John Jarrett is closely involved in the expansion due to a personal connection to KVFH. Jarret’s father received addiction treatment at the facility, but his struggles with sobriety continued.

“Unfortunately, my dad wasn’t able to overcome his addiction. He passed away in a shelter, so the opportunity for me to help you and help your cause and help the men at Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home—that’s just something that God has put in front of me,” he said.

Once complete, the new rooms will serve as complete apartments for the men in treatment with full amenities and access to meals at the existing facility next door.

“They’re basically studio apartments, and they’re private rooms with shared baths, and they are really, really nice. They’re air-conditioned. They’ll have wifi. They’ll have laundry service. They’ll have everything that’s needed,” Daugherty said.

KVFH has launched a capital campaign to raise the $2.05 million necessary to complete the project, and information on how to contribute is available at kvfh.org.