TROSA celebrated the campus opening of our new Guilford House Community Center! This community center is located at our T-East Women’s Program campus in Durham. T-East is a residential campus located directly across the street from our main campus.
Guilford House was built for our TROSA women’s program as a dedicated space for community gatherings, classrooms, relaxation, and fun! TROSA residents and staff marked the special campus opening with a private ceremonial ribbon-cutting and a special dinner and dessert for our women’s program, prepared and served by the TROSA Kitchen team. While our opening was private, we look forward to more publicly celebrating with and recognizing our generous donors to this transformative multi-phased project soon.
Guilford House’s Name Has Special Meaning
The name “Guilford House” is meaningful for two reasons: Guilford, Connecticut, was the former hometown of two TROSA supporters who have recognized and championed the importance of having a dedicated space for our Women’s Program. And Guilford County, North Carolina was the first North Carolina home of TROSA founder Kevin McDonald. While living and working in Guilford County, Kevin gained the tools and experience to establish a comprehensive treatment program here in Durham, which we know as TROSA. A plaque in our community center’s lobby shares this special meaning behind the name.
Honoring Founding Women’s Program Director
Guilford House’s largest room is a great room for large meetings and program-wide meals and activities. We surprised our founding women’s program director, Sandie Alger, by naming this prominent space “Alger Hall.”
Prior to building the residential and community spaces at T-East, our female residents were housed in a building in downtown Durham that we had far outgrown: “The residents just absolutely love their home at T-East,” shared Sandie Alger. “It is clean, homey, and welcoming. Our residents are better integrated into the TROSA community, and it just makes the women feel more a part of the campus.”
Community Center one of several enhancements:
The community center is one of several projects at our campuses in Durham and Winston-Salem that will continue to enhance and expand our residential and community spaces for TROSA’s residents.
As the number of women turning to TROSA for comprehensive treatment for substance use disorders increases, the creation and expansion of our T-East Women’s Program campus has yielded amazing benefits for our female residents. “T-East is just so much more of a ‘home’ for them,” shared Women’s Program staff member Carol Villiers. “I’m so happy for our women. Overall, it’s a big benefit to their mental health…they can just relax. When you are making any big change, it can be stressful. A home like T-East is extremely helpful for recovery.”
