Sara Pruitt of Conway was addicted to meth and living in a house with no electricity or water the last time she was arrested.
She said two things saved her life: Faulkner County Drug Court and Bethlehem House, a transitional homeless shelter in Conway, where she lived for almost two years.
She moved out earlier this month — drug-free and debt-free.
“I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without their love and support and their continued support,” she said of the shelter’s staff.
Bethlehem House Executive Director Judi Lively said Pruitt, 28, is one of many success stories in the transitional homeless shelter’s 25-year history. A celebration of the milestone was held Nov. 11 at UCA Downtown in Conway, and Pruitt said she attended the event.
“She’s been at the same job as when she first got here; she got her driver’s license and bought a car,” Lively said. Pruitt also paid off $11,000 in court fines.
Residents can live in the home, at 1115 Parkway St., for up to two years.
“This year, we’ve had three people do that, which is every unusual,” Lively said.
“To get in, they have to be ready to change their lives — no open warrants and no violent or sexual-offense charges. If they’re mentally ill, they have to be stable on their medication. Then we go through the interview,” she said.
“During that first 30 days, they have to find a job. Once they find a job, 60 percent [of their earnings] goes into a savings account that goes toward paying their fines or child support; 10 percent goes to the house as an occupancy fee. We really see that as just a discipline.”
She said the other 30 percent of the resident’s paycheck is to use at his or her discretion, to pay for a cellphone, go to the movies, etc.
“We do drug and alcohol tests and discharge [them] if they fail that,” Lively said.
Pruitt said she decided in jail that she had to change her life.
“I had a very serious meth addiction. I was an IV user, so it was extremely hard. It consumes you, and that is soon all that you care about. It’s really sad and sick, all in the same sentence,” she said.
The Houston, Texas, native said she started using methamphetamine when she was 16. Her parents divorced, and she went back and forth from Houston to Conway, where her father lived. She moved to Conway with a friend in 2010.
Then she met a man and got pregnant; she had her daughter in 2012. However,
Pruitt said, she didn’t use drugs while she was pregnant.
“This is the tearjerker part. I had a flip-out moment and left her with her dad and his mom,” Pruitt said. “I met a guy and started using [meth] with a needle.”
Pruitt said she went three or four months without seeing her daughter but has been in touch with her ever since. Pruitt’s daughter’s grandmother takes care of the 4-year-old.
Pruitt said her drug use “was ridiculous” from 2012-2015.
“I was doing so much meth and taking things from people and selling drugs — you name it,” she said. “It was awful.
“I think the lowest I can remember is having absolutely nothing, being all alone in a house and screaming out to God, ‘Please, please help me,’ and looking for a needle and something to get high with.”
She and the man she was living with were arrested for stealing an abandoned truck and taking it to the scrap yard for money. Pruitt said she was charged with “several felonies.”
She did soul-searching to figure out why she turned to drugs.
“Honestly, I haven’t really got to the root of why I didn’t love myself and why I felt so unworthy. My family was not perfect, but I knew they loved me. I knew if I wanted to stay sober … I had to learn to love myself.”
“When I was sitting in jail, I decided I didn’t care if God made it unavailable that I would be able to get drug court, or if I needed to go to prison, so be it. You can’t just do things like that and expect no repercussions.
“I asked for drug court, and they accepted me. That was probably the best thing; it literally saved my life,” she said.
Pruitt called Circuit/Chancery Judge Ed Clawson of Conway “probably one of the most amazing judges there ever was.”
“It kind of helped me get to the root of just the pain and why I did things and stuff like that, so I was able to change myself, so I didn’t have to be that person I was. Every day it got a little bit better, a little bit better,” she said.
When Pruitt got out of jail, her daughter’s grandmother picked up Pruitt and took her to Bethlehem House for an interview.
“I poured my heart and my soul out,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt was admitted as a resident, and it was tough to adjust.
“I hated it at first,” she said. “I couldn’t stand my caseworkers. You have all these emotions you didn’t feel when you were using. It was a very hard thing to transition to. They made me work; they made me set goals. … They set a curfew. Now they are literally like my family — best friends.
Pruitt has worked at Bob’s Grill in downtown Conway for the entire time she’s been at Bethlehem House, as well as at a bakery and another restaurant on top of that, from time to time.
Pruitt said Bob’s Grill owner Leslie Marshall has been a wonderful boss, understanding when Pruitt had to leave work to get drug-tested.
“They have been so supportive of me, and when I graduated drug court [in July], they got me a cake and a gift certificate to get my nails done. The cake said, ‘Just say No,’” Pruitt said, laughing.
A couple of weeks ago, she moved into a duplex.
“It is awesome; I’m notgoing to lie,” she said.
Bethlehem House has room for 44 residents, including eight emergency beds.
The 72,000-square-foot, two-story facility opened three years ago after a $1.3 million capital campaign.
The former facility was a 100-plus-year-old house that was cramped and in need of repairs, Lively said.
“I often think of the stories of the old facility, the bed falling through the floor, the squirrels coming into the house,” Lively said. “Obviously that’s been a huge, huge change. We’ve been able to provide more services because of, again, support, but we have 24-hour staff, and we didn’t at that time. At that time, everybody left at midnight. We weren’t providing transportation overnight — a lot of our folks work that third shift; we’ll take somebody to work at 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock.”
In addition to housing, showers are available for homeless people from
4:30-7 p.m. daily, and a food pantry and a free meal for the public are provided at 6 each evening.
A Thanksgiving meal is scheduled for 6 p.m. today. Lively said many residents go to a relative’s home for Thanksgiving, but she expects 35 to 40 people for dinner.
“There are so many groups and individuals in this community that help provide for those things; it’s certainly a community project,” she said.
Pruitt said her goal now is to go to college to become an addiction counselor or go into the technology field.
She said her court records will be sealed in January, barring any slip-ups, and Pruitt said she doesn’t worry that she’ll fall back into her old ways.
“I think the way that an addict’s mind works, thoughts may always pop into your head, but I make sure that one, I always stay busy; two, that I’m always working through my problems so I don’t feel the need to do something stupid,” she said.
“I got down to the darkest place I can ever imagine. Now that I see what it’s like to do things for myself and not have to depend on other people, I cannot ever go back to where I was. A lot of people come in [to Bethlehem House] and don’t take it seriously, and it breaks your heart. [The staff wants] to help you be able to make yourself alive, and they’re giving you every tool they have to help.
“I will always, always do things with Bethlehem House,” Pruitt said. “I cannot put into words what that place means to me.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.