Adult and Teen Challenge Mid-America to promote transition dorm at annual banquet

"Bridge the Gap" is the theme of this year's Adult and Teen Challenge Mid-America fundraiser.

James Bolin has been the executive director of Adult and Teen Challenge Mid-America for 13 years. The local organization is part of the nationwide, faith-based drug rehabilitation program, which has about 100 adult male students participating in the 12-month program.

Bolin said he has never felt so excited for what God is doing through the program in Southeast Missouri. He noted this year's theme was chosen because they are instituting a new project: a transition dorm.

"When our students graduate, many of them don't have a job or have a place to go. So we're going to build a transition house. I've already got students and graduates that want to go into this. And then we have employers here in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area that will want to hire these guys," Bolin said. "So there's a great need here. Employers need workers, and I have graduates here that need jobs. The only thing we're missing is the dorm to house them."

The banquet will take place Saturday, April 15, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the catered dinner by Sugarfire Smokehouse will start at 6 p.m.

Music, testimonies and prayer will be the main event at the banquet. The Adult and Teen Challenge Mid-America Choir will perform, and there will be three graduates who will give their testimonies.

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend, according to Bolin. He said it is almost a record year. But there is still room remaining for those who want to attend. There is no charge. They just ask attendees to call the office at (573) 335-3652 to RSVP.

Bolin hopes those in attendance will catch the vision that Adult and Teen Challenge Mid-America is trying to accomplish. He said this partnership between the organization and the community is the biggest thing they have ever done.

"It's us in the community partnering together to help make this ministry for these men more successful."