Crete Township: County Allows More Chapters for Ranch Recovery Program
By Nick Reiher
The 2nd Story Ranch Recovery Program will be able to add future chapters.
The Will County Board at its September 18 meeting approved a special use permit allowing owner Jim O’Connor and his partners to offer an in-patient rehabilitation program for up to 16 men on a 68-acre horse farm at 2400 Bemes Road.
The Will County Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended approval of a special use permit for a similar or compatible use to a rural retreat, 6-0 with seven conditions.
The board’s Land Use and Development Committee approved it with the seven conditions, including allowing inspections by the Will County Sheriff’s Department with notice; adhering to commercial building codes for changes of use for buildings, complying with local and state health codes and requirements, complying with Crete Township Fire Protection District requirements and not allowing more than six dwelling structures, including the existing lodge.
O’Connor did not attend the meeting. He was in Washington, D.C., meeting with representatives of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to request grant funding, as 2nd Story Ranch does not charge its clients.
“We are so deeply grateful to all the Will County Board members, officials and employees we’ve worked with,” O’Connor wrote in a text to Farmers Weekly Review.
“Our project is about building communities of care to help people and families suffering from addiction and alcoholism, but also poverty, isolation and despair. To have so many people come together to support this project is heartening, joyful, and deepens our commitment to work tirelessly to embrace suffering with love.”
O’Connor, who serves as executive director of the foundation, holds a degree in Addiction Studies and is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Erik Christensen is director of operations and has experience as a Substance Abuse Counselor and as a farm operator.
Both suffered from severe substance use disorder, homelessness and deep despair. Each in their time was given the gift of housing, work, direction and time at a farm-based program.
They have over 25 years of continuous, active sobriety between them, along with first-hand knowledge of a farm-based recovery program. They and the farm were the subject of a June 26 Farmers Weely Review article by freelance reporter Karen Haave.
“Based on our years of experience working with men in need of recovery housing, most – if not all – of the men who join the 2nd Story Ranch Recovery Program will have been homeless before entering substance abuse disorder treatment, not all the same, not always what you think,” O’Connor said in that earlier story.
“The people who join our program will be offered supports that no other program in Illinois can offer: A stable home, a meaningful job, directors and peer supports with decades of continual sobriety and professional credentials, a built-in community, a healing environment in a natural setting, spiritual direction, love and time.”
Most County Board members were sympathetic and even appreciative of the program, including Board Member Sherry Newquist, R-Steger. While she supports the concept of the program, she noted she was the lone no vote at the Land Use and Development Committee.
Newquist was concerned the special use would open the door for more agritourism in the that area, which she said already is causing disruptions. Were the special use category to change, she would support the project.
Board Member Daniel Butler, R-Frankfort, said he would oppose the special use permit because Crete Township and at least one homeowner’s association – both in his district — were against it.
He also was concerned the organization subsists only on corporate and personal donations, and grants, including one for $250,000 from the Will County Health Department from its program to battle the opioid crisis.
Board Member Judy Ogalla, R-Monee, who used to represent the Crete area before restricting, said agritourism disruptions in that area usually are caused by rodeos and other organizations playing loud music in the evenings.
She said such a program would be a benefit to have in Will County.
Representing O’Connor at the September 18 meeting, attorney Nathaniel Washburn said 2nd Story would provide therapy and treatment for men who have been through a program, but aren’t ready to get back into the general population.
The stay in programs run before by O’Connor ran from six months to 18 months, with the longest stay being 20 months because, Washburn said, O’Connor also had to teach the person to read.
O’Connor also told Farmers Weekly Review they have commitments from local health care providers to ensure full medical, dental, psychiatric and (medical assessment) support for their members.
The clients also would be expected to work, since 2nd Story is a working horse farm. That will mean shoveling manure, taking care of the horses and whatever other chores need to be done.
Plans are underway to expand the farm and build a new 7,000-square-foot lodge with a 2,000-square-foot community center and a kitchen/food pantry. O’Connor is hopeful that within a year.
The estimated cost of the lodge and community center is $2,380,800. So far, donations and pledges received total $493,000, with a remaining $1,987,800 still needed.
They own the property, thanks to a partnership with IFF-Chicago, a Community Development Financing Institution.
Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review. Freelance Reporter Karen Haave contributed to this story.
