As opioid overdoses continue to affect lives across Milwaukee, Serenity Inns aims to reach more men seeking treatment for substance use disorder.
Serenity Inns, a treatment center for men struggling with substance abuse, recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new 14-bed facility in Milwaukee’s Walnut Hill neighborhood. The new facility will serve an additional 56 to 60 men per year, said Kenneth Ginlack, the chief executive officer of Serenity Inns.
The nonprofit’s new location at 2830 West Brown St. expands upon Serenity Inns' current facility at 2825 West Brown St. The current location has 12 beds and will continue its operations alongside the opening of the new facility.
The new facility follows Serenity Inns’ “holistic approach” to treatment by including an exercise room, library, doctor’s office and other amenities, Ginlack said. There will also be therapists onsite at the facility.
The library includes workstations with computers so that residents can journal or work on job searching, Ginlack said, and the library space provides a quiet space for relaxation.
“We (are) always looking for different coping skills,” Ginlack said. “When we look at exercise, it plays a huge part into recovery.”
Ginlack said he hopes the new facility will open its doors to residents beginning the second week of September.
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Fundraising efforts
Serenity Inns is still working to fundraise for its $3 million capital campaign to pay for its new facility.
The IFF, a community development financial institution formerly known as the Illinois Facilities Fund, financed a $2.3 million loan for the project.
“We really moved on faith,” Ginlack said. “We incurred this debt with faith in the community, faith in our stakeholders, faith in philanthropy and foundations, that we’ll be able to pay this off.”
As of Friday afternoon, Serenity Inns has raised more than $1.3 million from 32 donors. Ginlack said he expects the remaining debt for the cost of the project will be paid off in the next two to three years, even though the nonprofit has 15 years to do so.
Ginlack said Serenity Inns recently received opioid settlement money from Milwaukee County. The Bradley Foundation also granted $300,000 toward the project last year.
Milwaukee Bucks TV analyst and former star player Marques Johnson serves as a board member for Serenity Inns’ capital campaign. Johnson has been open about his 22-year recovery from drug use and uses his experiences as a channel to help others going through the same struggle.
Johnson said he uses his “notoriety as a Bucks player, a Bucks player who had his number retired, as a Bucks announcer who was — as Peter Feigin, president of the Bucks, likes to say — kind of one of the faces of the Milwaukee Bucks” to garner support for Serenity Inns’ campaign.
“When people think about giving money, donating, whether it’s from the corporate level or individual level — not that they need any stamp of legitimacy, but just that name recognition will be more prevalent, and maybe something that could help them decide to whether to give or not give, or how much to give or not give, based on the fact that not only am I associating with Serenity Inns, but because of my personal story,” Johnson said in an interview with BizTimes.
Ginlack said Serenity Inns is seeking sponsors for the many rooms throughout the facility. He said within 24 hours of the Aug. 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Serenity Inns received $60,000 in donations and the sponsorship of three rooms at the new facility.
Ginlack said funding became a challenge during the early stages of the project. Development individuals advised him not to open the new facility, and that he was “not ready” due to financial constraints presented by the project, Ginlack said. The project was “underfunded” at the time Serenity Inns broke ground on the new facility, Ginlack said.
“However, I know the need in the community was severe,” Ginlack said. “It is people dying every day due to overdose deaths, and honestly, we couldn’t afford to wait.”
A need for treatment facilities in Milwaukee
Ginlack said Serenity Inns receives at least five calls per day from men seeking treatment, but there are not nearly enough beds to help everyone who is struggling.
Milwaukee County is lacking 200 treatment beds, Ginlack said, and this shortage “was really our push” to build another facility.
“My fear was always that the person that called looking for a bed may die tonight,” Ginlack said. “That was something that bothered me.”
There were 645 confirmed overdose deaths in Milwaukee County last year, according to data from the Milwaukee County Overdose Dashboard.
Ginlack said the number of overdose deaths continues to increase for Milwaukee’s Black and brown populations. Men overdose at a higher rate, he said, so “help needs to be available.”
Serenity Inns will be opening a drop-in clinic at North 19th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue by the end of the year, Ginlack said. There will be a counselor and peer support specialist onsite for individuals to talk to, he said, as well as harm reduction products.
He said he is excited that the drop-in center will be located between the north and south sides of Milwaukee.
“The need is here. The need is in the community, not only just the north side, but the south side as well,” Ginlack said.
Because people often have to go to the suburbs or the outskirts of Milwaukee to receive treatment at a state-of-the-art facility, he said it’s “important that a man can come in and get treatment in the neighborhood that they live in.”
“We just want to make a bigger impact and serve more men,” he said. “Again, 60 more men. That’s 60 more lives that can be saved. That’s 60 more families that can be touched.”
The ‘ripple effect’ of recovery
Ginlack said he knows firsthand the “ripple effect” that substance use treatment can have.
Ginlack began treatment himself for substance use disorder in 2007 and has been clean for 16 years, he said.
“For me to be clean and now be the CEO of Serenity Inns speaks volumes,” he said. Ginlack has been with Serenity Inns for nearly three years.
Ginlack was “praying for purpose” while going through treatment, he said, which ultimately led him to become a licensed psychotherapist, clinical social worker and clinical substance abuse counselor.
He said it was important “to return back home after treatment and make a difference.”
“I never thought I was smart or intelligent or thought I would even get through school. However, once I put the drugs down, started to get my life back on track, I actually excelled when I was in school,” he said. “So it’s a full circle moment for me to be able to give back to men that are struggling with substance use disorder. When I talk about the ripple effect, I’m referring to families as well. I was able to get my family back, and be a part of my grandkid’s life now, and be a part of my kid’s life. So I know the significance of getting your life back on track, getting that hope.”
Because he has been in recovery and understands the process, Ginlack said it especially brings meaning for him “to work with the men and make sure they get their hope back.”
