GLAD House expands, moves to O'Bryonville

As GLAD House celebrates its 15th year of dedication and success in February, they will also be moving to a facility in O'Bryonville that is larger, on a bus line and situated next to Owl's Nest Park. 

The idea for GLAD House, which stands for "Giving Life A Dream," began in 1993. After five years of careful planning, Beatrice Lampkin, founder of the nonprofit, with the help of church members, other nonprofits and an expert committee of psychiatrists, social workers and educators, opened its doors to children and families who were struggling with addiction and related issues in their homes. 

Lampkin, who spent years on the campus of Cincinniat Children's Hospital and Medical Center as director of hematology and oncology, had seen pervasive drug use in the area around the hospital. That prompted her to do something meaningful in an effort to "make an impact in breaking the cycle of addiction." 

"As far as substance abuse, a lot of the programs are for treatment, but the children were totally ill bystanders," Lampkin says. "And you have the children living in the conditions of a home impacted by addictions, and they'd have to fend for themselves." 

So Lampkin developed a program—the Champs—to provide support to children, particularly between the ages of 5 and 12. As an after-school program, children receive transportation to GLAD House; they're given a snack, in addition to dinner; and they receive treatment from licensed therapists to help them cope with their situation and prevent drug use in the future.

"We don't just toss them out after a period of time," says Lampkin, in reference to children who have met individual therapy goals or who are older than 12. "We promote them to the GLAD Hands Club, where they come back to us less frequently; and these children come back until they're 18 years of age, so that's a long period of time that we're following them."

It is both necessary and beneficial, according to Lampkin, "because if you just treat them for a matter of say, six months for them to meet their individual goals, they lose what they have learned because they go back and live in the same area; but with continued support and reinforcement until they graduate from high school, they have a much better chance of becoming very successful in their lives." 

And participants have become successful. GLAD House works with approximately 115 children every year, some starting as young as 5 years of age. To date, 29 of those youth have graduated from high school—23 of them entered college and the other six secured employment. "So it works," Lampkin says. "And we are very proud." 

GLAD House also provides support to other family members. From classes on understanding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to curriculums celebrating families, the nonprofit supports family unity and wellbeing. 

With the organization's continued growth and success, Lampkin says the new facility is ideal. "It's going to be wonderful, and we're very happy because certainly our program has been very successful for the children and their parents, and we want to continue, and we want to expand."

Do Good: 

• Make a charitable donation to GLAD House.

• Volunteer to help children with homework, to cook, to garden, to shop for supplies or to help in the office.

•  Donate school supplies or recreational materials for GLAD House activities. 

By Brittany York 

Brittany is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies.