State AG attends opening of new Project Cope facility in Lynn

LYNN – After giving four children up for adoption and struggling with substance abuse, Kristen Belle, pregnant with her fifth child, thought she would be homeless.?I felt like I was a shell of a person,” said Belle on Friday.She turned to Project Cope for housing and for help in getting sober so she could give her baby a better life.Belle?s son, Aidan, was born while she was housed in Project Cope?s in-patient treatment program on North Common Street in Lynn.?They cared about me when I couldn?t care for myself,” she said.Now two years sober, Belle lives in a transitional apartment with her 18-month-old son, and just finished her first semester of college.Project Cope has helped addicted and abused women like Belle to build a clean and more independent life for 40 years.On Friday, they officially opened their new in-patient facility at 66 Johnson St., at an open house reception.Beverly Clarke, the program?s Chief Operating Officer, said the 100 year-old Victorian home took $1.1 million and 877 days of “blood, sweat and tears” to renovate. The renovation was funded in part by state and federal organizations, but mostly private foundations like Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT).Mark Kennard, Project Cope?s Executive Director, said when they first found the building it was an “empty, boarded up, blighted building sitting in a neighborhood that deserves much better.”He compared the renovation of the house to the womens? own “release, rebirth, renewal and recovery,” admiring their “courage to fall out of love with something they never thought they could live without.”Attorney General Martha Coakley showed her support at the event as the keynote speaker.Coakley, who was introduced as the “hero” and “leader” in government for non-profits, spoke about her effort to try to bring back properties for families in the Commonwealth.?I watch out for people who get the short end of the stick,” she said. “I?m struck by how many people will be homeless because of what happens on Wall Street.”MDRT representative Brent Kimball called the renovation “a dream 15 years in the making.”Kimball said the reason for the work of Project Cope isn?t really for the women who receive the treatment, but for their children.?We want them to be safe, and we want them to be happy.”He told a story about meeting with his secretary that morning. The single 23-year-old woman is trying to adopt her nephew because he was born addicted from his mother?s substance abuse.?It?s about the children,” he said.The house at 66 Johnson St. has 24 beds for women going through the six months of substance abuse treatment program, and pregnant women can stay until their child is a year old.