The turn of a few shovels of dirt Thursday morning marked the first efforts to fill a "desperate" need in Little Rock.
   Members of the board of directors of Serenity Park Inc., an alcohol and addiction treatment facility for men, broke ground for an $800,000 women’s facility. Founder Joe McQuany said there has been a need for such a facility since the 1980s, when a longtime Little Rock women’s program closed.
   "It’s desperate now," he said.
   The nonprofit agency has raised nearly $200,000 of the needed construction money so far. Much of it has come unsolicited, said board member and Chief Operating Officer Don Blair.
   "We’ve gotten $10,000 checks in the mail," he said.
   Getting addicts turned around ultimately saves the state money, Blair said.
   "This is a community thing," he said. "It would be nice if they would help pay for it."
   All of the money raised will go directly to the expense of building the women’s facility. None of it will be used for salaries, McQuany said.
   Theodoshia Cooper, who spoke at the groundbreaking, said she met McQuany more than 40 years ago at the State Hospital. McQuany, who is black, had been admitted because of his alcoholism; Cooper was a psychiatric social worker.
   At the time, black alcoholics were admitted as mental patients because they were not allowed to join treatment programs. Later, she started an Alcoholics Anonymous group for blacks and worked with McQuany to start Serenity Park, she said.
   "I am so excited today, I could just fly," Cooper said during the ceremony. "I said, ‘Joe, your dream is going to come true some day.’"
   Planners are designing an 8,500-square-foot facility that will stand apart from the men’s 11,600-square-foot facility. The new building will have 20 beds, common toilets and showers, a laundry room, a classroom, a living room and counselor offices.
   "It’s gonna be a nice place," McQuany said. "It will be clean, ladylike and have nice curtains. It will be a special place in the city."
   McQuany said he realizes a lot of money must be raised to pay for the new building, but he’s faced similar challenges in the past.
   "I had $300 [when I started]," McQuany said. "People said, ‘How are you gonna do it?’ I said, ‘I don’t know,’ and I stepped out."
   "You’ve got to step out sometimes," he said. "I’ve always stepped out into things, and people have always helped me."

This story was published Friday, March 11, 2005