By Rozella Hardin

Editorial Director
rozella.hardin@elizabethton.com
The Recovery Soldiers Ministry will have a charity dinner March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Boones Creek Christian Church to raise funds to apply toward paying of its building debt.
The organization operates from a newly-opened facility located on the Old Bristol Highway in the Biltmore community. The faith-based addiction recovery program is the first of its kind in Carter County and presently has 33 persons enrolled in its program. “We currently have 30 beds in our facility for in-house students and another six beds in transitional trailers,” said Josh Scalf, founder of Recovery Soldiers Ministry.
“We graduated our first two students from the program last Saturday, so we are shouting Jesus on this end of town,” said Scalf.
The facility includes a dormitory, a kitchen that also functions as a classroom at times, offices, and a sanctuary. “We currently owe $89,000 on the building, and our goal is to get that debt paid off so we can do other things in our ministry,” Scalf said.
“The men that we serve are looking for something different,” Scalf said. “They need the hope of Jesus and to be able to give that to them is amazing.”
“They come in with needle marks on their arms, and they are broken, and we reach out to them in love,” Scalf added. “It’s a message of hope.”
Scalf and his wife, Marley, said they are pleased with the support the community has shown the ministry from the time he began holding meetings and sharing his testimony in local churches through the opening of the new recovery facility. There are so many in our midst who have been affected by drugs and alcohol and need the message of hope. In order to remain successful and continue to help these men fight their battle with addiction, we will need the continued support of the community,” said Scalf.
In addition to the in-house program, Recovery Soldiers Ministries does outreach classes on Tuesday and Wednesday at which the community is invited to participate.
“If you can’t come to the dinner, we invite you to send us a check or donate online,” said Scalf.
Donations may be sent to Recovery Soldiers Ministry, P.O. Box 603, Elizabethton, TN 37643 or to donate online to recoverysoldiersministries.org
Boones Creek Christian Church is located at 305 Christian Church Road, Johnson City.