To the editor,

For the past 25 years, Pamela Norton has served as the right-hand person at a church for people in various stages of recovery in River Falls. In 2003, the pastor asked Pam if she would move into the parsonage and run it as a sober house. Since then, Pam has allowed strangers, new in recovery, to move in and out of the house with her and her family, and helped them learn how to live and stay sober while holding down a job, paying rent, taking care of their living space, learning financial responsibility, etc., while also providing a safe place for sober friends to sit and chat, relax, or just sit and collect their thoughts before heading back out into the world. While a church, with its locked doors, is silent most of the time, Pam’s Place (the official name of the sober house) is rarely quiet, and its doors are often only closed at night, thanks to Pam and her husband Kevin’s dedication to the recovery community.

A few weeks ago, after 22 years of welcoming others into her home and helping them start their lives over, Pam was blindsided when she was told, “Your services are no longer required.” Just like that, Pam, Kevin, and the four others who live at Pam’s Place are losing their home. In their 60s, Pam and Kevin are being told to go and are expected to start over from scratch. Running the sober house has never been a paid position. Pam is disabled, and Kevin works at a local treatment center. They need financial help to purchase a new home so they can continue finding ways to serve the recovery community, because to them, that’s what matters. The church can take away their home, but not their calling to serve.

If you can help, please visit their GoFundMe page: Support Pam and Kevin’s Mission in Recovery, to relocate (you can find it by typing Pamela Norton into the search box at GoFundMe.com). Please support them as they have supported so many others over the years.

Tina Smeby

Menomonie