If you’re like me, you might be finding it hard to look away from the drama unfolding on our collective national stage right now.

I admit to feeling frozen in place, mesmerized by the daily — often hourly — breaking news stories. Uncertainty looms and, with it, more than a touch of anxiety as I imagine worst-case scenarios and what my role should be in response to such.

However, in my more lucid moments, I realize that taking on hypothetical problems before they arrive, if indeed they do, is to bear unnecessary burdens.

Meanwhile, closer to home — right here in the Ozarks — families are facing real problems, not hypothetical ones. There’s nothing abstract about people next door, with faces we recognize and names we know, worrying about how they will shelter and feed their children.

Beginning with this article, I plan to write a series spotlighting the residents of His House, a non-profit organization in Shell Knob that provides a unique residential program to families in crisis. My hope is that the series will bring attention to the positive work that His House is doing in the community, and, at the same time, remind me that there are plenty of local stories to tell without fixating on situations out of my control.

Sometimes, it’s easier and more practical to give money to those in need than become personally involved in their lives, but Trina Colwell, president of the Board of Directors of His House Foundation in Shell Knob, opted to plunge, head-long, into the challenges of her lakeside community — serving the “haves” and “have-nots,” alike — when she moved to the area from Kansas City some 15 years ago.

What began with serving a free weekly dinner to the community, the faith-based His House Foundation has since evolved into a two-year residential program that offers a safe place for parents with children to turn their lives around. After purchasing the old Star Lodge Hotel that towers atop a bluff overlooking the Shell Knob Bridge on YY Highway, His House Foundation provides home to 12 families who live there for twoyear stents on a rotating basis.

“Every June, we have six families graduate, then six more move in, in August,” Colwell said.

Most residents, Colwell said, come from lives of addiction, which, in many cases, resulted in prison sentences and the temporary loss of their children to state custody.

The foundation now has a waiting list for residency, including many people referred to the foundation by the court system, in part, because the courts deem His House a safe place for children to be reunited with their parents.

Sobriety is key to acceptance for residency at His House. Applicants, who go through an interview process, must be clean of addiction and show proof of recent participation in a drug/ alcohol rehab program.

Living in His House is not a free ride; it’s a program to help people get back on their feet, Colwell said.

Residents hold jobs and attend daily devotions, church services and life-skills classes, such as financial responsibility, parenting skills and employment stability.

Now 43, Nancy Walton was separated from her three daughters several years ago after one of them called the Division of Family Services due to Walton’s meth addiction. She was living on the streets in Springfield, with just a backpack to her name, when she reached rock bottom, she said.

“One night I was in Nichols Park on the north side of Springfield, a dangerous place for anyone to be, let alone a single woman,” Walton said. “At 3 a.m., I lost it. I hit my knees and started screaming at God, promising him I’d do anything, anything, if he would take my drug cravings away.”

Walton, survivor of a childhood car accident that left her with a fractured vertebrae that wasn’t discovered until years later, lives with chronic back pain. Her addiction didn’t happen overnight.

“As an adult, I was referred to pain management clinics where they prescribed hydrocodone and Percocet in ever-increasing doses, until I realized I couldn’t stop taking them without becoming violently ill,” she said.

The vicious catch-22 cycle traps many unwary victims, Walton said.

“In order to avoid the withdrawal symptoms from opioids, a friend suggested I try meth,” Walton recalled.

Meth, Walton said, wasn’t hard to find.

“My mom was a user, so she was happy to hook me up,” Walton said. “It stopped the opioid-withdrawal symptoms alright, but I was unprepared for the 8-year nightmare that followed.”

The night in Nichols Park was Walton’s turning point.

“God heard my prayer,” Walton said. “My cravings for meth were taken away. Through the DFS, I was referred to a group called RPG, who referred me to a drug treatment program, followed by a referral to residency at His House.

“Where’s Shell Knob?” Walton asked her case worker, when His House was mentioned. “It seemed like a long way from Springfield.”

The grandmother of Walton’s children, who was an anchor in Walton’s storm, told her that Shell Knob sounded like a good place for Walton and her children to get a fresh start on life. Walton agreed.

Three years have passed since Walton first met Trina Colwell at her residency interview for His House.

“I think she was a little afraid of me at first,” Walton said. “I was angry and violent and mad at life.”

Walton now credits God and His House with saving her life, a life she could never have anticipated prior to moving to Shell Knob.

After graduating from the proscribed two-year residency program, where she was reunited with her youngest two daughters (her oldest daughter is independent), Walton stayed on in a staff position. She now works at Walmart, and she and her daughters will soon be moving into their own apartment.

Walton is especially proud of the fact that her middle daughter is a student in the nursing program at Crowder College.

“See what happened after you actively prayed that night in Nichols Park,” Trina Colwell reminded Walton.

Walton has been drug-free for over three years, now, and has found other ways to manage her previous back pain.

Part of the attraction of His House, said Walton and many of the other residents, is the sense of community it offers, something many of the residents have never experienced before.

“We’re one big family, here,” Walton said.

While His House is faith-based, it is not affiliated with any particular church or denomination.

“Several area churches walk alongside His House in serving the community,” Colwell said.

Sheila Harris is a long-time Barry County resident and a sales executive and investigative reporter for the Cassville Democrat with a particular interest in environmental topics. She may be reached at sheilaharrisads@gmail.com.