Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic's Event Celebrates Role of Women

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, July 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A woman's place is … in the spotlight.

At least that's the thinking behind this year's Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic's Hope Has A Home Celebration set for Sept. 13 at Avion on the Water in Canfield. This year's NKRC event will feature guest speaker Virginia O'Keefe, chief executive officer of Amethyst, Inc., and honor all members of The Junior League of Youngstown.

Ms. O'Keefe is a founding member of Amethyst, Inc., a Central Ohio program for women in recovery. Better known as "Ginny," Ms. O'Keefe and her organization maintain 139 housing units in Columbus, Ohio, for women in recovery and their children.

"We realized that women who were coming out of treatment had no place to go because they couldn't go back to their old abusive environments where they were likely to want to use. We decided to create a safe place for women to recover. Our first location (established in the 1970s) housed three women in recovery and a house mother. Since then, we have grown considerably," Ms. O'Keefe, who herself shares her personal story of recovery, said.

Locally, The Junior League of Youngstown has helped support NKRC's Woman to Woman program for more than 20 years. The Woman to Woman program focuses on treatment and education for women with alcohol- and drug-abuse issues.

The Junior League of Youngstown was founded as the Junior Service League of Youngstown in 1929. It is part of the Association of Junior Leagues International and is among eight Junior Leagues in Ohio with membership including women from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania. This year's president if Anna Aey.

NKRC's Hope Has A Home celebration coincides with the organization's 65th anniversary. The dinner event is set for Sept. 13 at Avion on the Water, 2177 W. Western Reserve Road in Canfield. Tickets are $75 and sponsorships are available. Contact is Mona Barger, via email at [email protected], or by phone, 1-330-792-4724, ext. 7134.

An Ohio subsidiary of Gateway Rehab, the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic (NKRC) was founded in 1946 in Youngstown. NKRC also has facilities in Austintown, Howland and Dublin to assist people in recovery from substance abuse.

SOURCE Gateway Rehab