BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Haven of Rest serves families visiting their incarcerated loved ones and ministers to the community, assisting those in need. Director Debe Polich was the guest speaker during the Kiwanis Club luncheon Thursday at Shufflin Café and shared her ministry’s mission.

Polich arrived in Martin County in 2011 as a volunteer with the Christian Appalachian Project and continued her work until 2013. After a brief stint in Arizona to be with her family, she returned to Martin County upon retirement.

“[Haven of Rest] started in 2004 as a ministry for families visiting their loved ones at the [U.S. Penitentiary Big Sandy],” Polich explained. “As you know there aren’t hotels and restaurants and all that available around here. And it’s so expensive for families to come from out of state,” said Polich. “So they can get a clean room with a bath of their own. We provide simple meals for them. We don’t cook; we provide the food. If they want to cook, we tell them they have the lodge.”

Haven of Rest, a Christian-based ministry, also shares the love of Jesus with the visiting families and “lets them have a safe, private place where they’re accepted and can visit.”

Polich noted that since COVID-19, the number of visitors to the prison has significantly decreased. She added, “We are still available for them, and they still come, but it’s not crowded anymore.”

Haven of Rest has a two-story mission building where it hosts mission groups. These groups sometimes work on projects at the Haven of Rest, but they also go into the community to help with schools, simple home repairs and various other initiatives.”

Polich shared with Kiwanians some of the special projects that Haven of Rest has been involved in. One of these projects involved getting a grant to supply families with meals, including a full Resurrection Day dinner. Other initiatives included a shoes and socks drive for students, toothbrush kits and a hygiene products drive. Haven of Rest donates these items to students through family resource centers in Martin County schools.

According to Polich, members of the Inez First Baptist Church, where she attends, have been collaborating with her to continue these drives. She said, “Haven of Rest started from people with Inez First Baptist Church. We did a shoes and socks drive for students, and Inez just really jumped in and helped. They were so great. The Freedom Freewill Church jumped in, too, and they got this big vanload of clothes, shoes and socks.”

In 2022, a mission group visiting Martin County organized a vacation bible school at Warfield Park and brought “good, used shoes for the children.” Polich shared, “Some of the teenagers that went out there were so impressed by the poverty and the need. When they came back for their next mission trip, they made an offering and they had $2,300 for shoes. Through all this, we probably got about 500 pairs of shoes and socks.”

Another VBS group sent a check for $1,500 for shoes. Polich said, “I told the school resource ladies, and they just broke down in tears.”

Polich mentioned that Haven of Rest plans to buy winter boots next month.

“Other organizations do a lot for our schools; they do a lot for our community. And they have a lot of backing,” remarked Polich. “I want to impress upon these kids and the resource ladies that we’re a community. We need to break that idea of ‘I’ll wait for someone to give it to me.’ If you have a pair of shoes you’re not using right now, and Dottie has socks that she’s not using, we can put them together and be a community and break that cycle of ‘we’ll just wait for someone to give it to us, someone else.’ These outside churches from Western Kentucky and Tennessee, it’s great that they’re helping us—we appreciate it—but we need to band together.”

According to Polich, family resource directors informed her that about half of the children in the school system did not have toothbrushes. Last year, she set out to gather 500 sets (toothbrushes and toothpaste) and ended up with over 1,500.

Haven of Rest is situated on approximately 3 acres at 58 Haven Place, just 1 mile past the prison on the right on Airport Road in Debord. It features a 3,400-square-foot lodge.

The lodge, equipped with a lounge, fully functional kitchen, dining room and rooms, is available for assemblies, mission groups, retreats, weddings, reunions, meetings, birthday parties, baby and bridal showers, and other needs.

“Our lounge is beautifully decorated and comfortably holds 60-70 people,” said Polich.

Outside is playground equipment, a gazebo, and large front and back porches furnished with rocking chairs.