It’s a Vision

The new recovery home planned for Jay County has a name.

Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition announced the name — The Vision on Votaw — of the prospective sober living facility in Portland on Wednesday. It also awarded $250 to Shalee Myron of Pennville for submitting the idea.

The name incorporates the location’s address at 422 W. Votaw St.

Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition received 245 submissions in May for its Name It to Claim It contest, which asked the community to suggest names for the new recovery home. The Vision on Votaw and four other names were selected as finalists and competed in a voting contest through June and July on social media, drawing more than 300 votes from the community.

Myron said she believed The Vision on Votaw exemplifies a good message.

“I think you can kind of still take what you have in the past but know you want to keep your eyes on the future and what your future’s going to look like,” said Myron. “So, kind of that ‘vision’ and what you envision your next step to be.”

Other potential names on the list were A New Leaf – Recovery House for Men from Kayla Phillips, Caladrius Cottage from Dean Fisher, The Return Home from Christy Nel and 422 Recovery House from Emily Kring.

IU Health Jay donated the Votaw Street property in May to Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition as the potential site for its new recovery home. Chief operating officer and chief nursing officer Christina Schemenaur voiced her excitement Wednesday for getting involved with the facility’s creation.

“It’s something that is much needed in the community, and as a health care provider of the community, improving the health and wellbeing (here) is very important,” she said. “We’re just pleased to be able to partner and be participants in this adventure moving forward.”

The approximately 3,728-square-foot house is currently undergoing a feasibility study with Bruns Consulting of Fort Recovery to determine whether it will be suitable for the needs of a sober living facility. Plans have been to house between 15 and 17 residents at a time, including a house manager in long-term recovery overseeing the facility. Hopes are to renovate the building by adding on more square footage — the goal is a total of about 5,000 square feet — reconfiguring bedrooms and communal living spaces, updating safety features, improving accessibility and ensuring compliance with state guidelines, among other changes.

Michael Keller, a member of Jay County Opioid Task Force, donated the prize money for the naming contest and presented it to Myron on Wednesday. He talked about an accident in 2022 in which he became trapped underneath his tractor on his property in rural Portland. He recalled help from local responders and said he wanted to pay forward their rescue efforts.

He also voiced a desire for the community to get invested and be involved in the recovery home development.

“The entire community should participate, step in, help build, help manage and keep things in what they think is control,” he said.

Now that the recovery home has a name, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition will be moving into another community involved project — designing the logo. Throughout the month of August, the organization will be accepting logo design submissions for The Vision on Votaw.

Images may be submitted online — those interested may check Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition’s Facebook page for the link Aug. 1 — or dropped off in-person with contact information attached at 100 N. Meridian St., Portland. 

Similar to the previous contest, participants must be residents of Jay, Blackford, Delaware, Adams or Randolph counties and must be older than 18 or have their guardian’s permission to enter. Each participant is allowed one submission. Images may not contain drug paraphernalia or inappropriate material and must be original designs. The winning logo will be finalized by a graphic designer.

“Watch our Facebook page for posts. We’re continuing to seek out funding, opportunities and grants to make this possible,” noted Kimbra Reynolds, director of Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition.