January, 2020
Neighbors of Harlem,
I am writing this letter on behalf of my wife, Ana, and I, to inform you of our hope to purchase the property located at the end of Stone Street (Parcells H06-111 &H06-022). As the property is located near your home, we’d like you to know exactly who we are and what our intentions are for the property.
I am Clifton Nobles and I grew up right there in Harlem. My wife and I lead a church in Augusta called The River. We also run a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization called 143 Ministries International, Inc. The goal of these two ministries is to help people come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to help as many people as we can get free from their addictions through faith in Him.
One of the ways we do this is through our Christ centered sober living home for women, Katherine’s Way. We named it Katherine’s Way after my late grandmother Katherine Campbell, who loved me and prayed for me in my darkest days. Katherine, affectionately known as “Mamaw,” was a resident of Harlem for the last fifty years of her life. She was loved by everyone who knew her in this community and she was an active member of both the Harlem United Methodist Church and the Harlem Women’s Club. As I mentioned, she never gave up on me, and when I found myself fighting for my life because of a drug addiction, it was her prayers and her love that helped me find my way out. Today, I have been free from addiction for over seven years, and my wife and I have helped countless others get free by doing what she did for me, loving them despite their shortcomings.
Currently, we have a nine bed women’s facility located in Augusta. We are not a rehabilitation facility in the traditional sense, nor are we a medical facility. We are a discipleship home for women who are wanting to learn how to recover from drug addiction. All residents must be detoxed from drugs and alcohol and able to pass a drug test prior to admittance into our program. Once admitted, we teach them the causes of addiction and how to recover with a 12 step program and the teachings of the Bible. This is how both my wife and I recovered, and through this method we are having great success with helping others do the same. Long term, we also desire to minister to the children of the women we help in order to break the cycle of addiction that we see being passed from mother to child. Statistics prove that children who have parents that suffer from addiction have a far greater risk of suffering from addiction themselves. This is because of the trauma associated with growing up with an addicted parent. Our vision is to provide a place where mothers can come to receive healing and also bring their children with them, so that both may be healed and the cycle of addiction broken. This is our plan for the property in Harlem. Long term we would like to use the back of the property for Katherine’s Way and eventually build a church on the front of the property, where we could minister to the public and be a resource for the city of Harlem by offering recovery based meetings and classes for both family members and those struggling with addiction.
We are aware of the stigma that comes with programs like ours, but we also know that most of these can be caused by lack of knowledge of the “ins and outs” of our program. So, we welcome any and all questions whether it is now or moving forward. There is no denying that drug addiction is a real epidemic in today’s society. Nearly every American family has been adversely affected in some way by addiction. Our goal is to change that; because we have a proven method to do so. But we need help. We need a safe place to house the ladies God sends to us so that we can help them uncover why they are destroying their lives with drugs then equip them with the skills needed to find healing for the “why”. We need a place where we can teach them that God can heal them while they experience first hand the love of Christ. This is the reason we desire to purchase this property in your community.
Finally, we know that nearly everyone knows this is a problem in our nation, and that people need help, but we also have learned that nearly no one wants people to receive that help near their homes. We pray that you will welcome us into your community and lock arms with us in this fight, so that we can see lives changed, families restored and the cycle of addiction broken in the next generation. We hope you will partner with us on this mission by supporting our efforts to purchase this property and be your neighbor. Thank you so much for your time and willingness to listen to our hearts. God bless.
Sincerely,
Clifton Nobles Ana Johnson Nobles
Senior Pastor, The River Managing Director, Katherine’s Way
President, 143 Ministries International Inc.
https://143ministries.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=1904&action=edit