Jill Howell and Corey Sparks were pulled into drug addiction as teenagers in Tazewell County.
Now, they are working to open an addiction recovery home for women, the first of its kind where they grew up.
The two women, who run A Hope and Future Ministry, are partnering with the county to operate a house where women suffering from opioid addiction can receive support and recover. Tazewell County is closing on a property near Cavitts Creek Park, including a house and 12 acres of land. Ideally, the facility will be up and running by the end of November, Sparks said by phone.
To get to an addiction recovery facility, those affected in Tazewell County currently have to drive more than an hour, Howell said in a phone interview, going far from friends and family — which can often discourage people from seeking help. That’s why it’s important to have a resource close by, she said.
“Tazewell is our home,” Howell said. “Tazewell is where we were in our addiction, and Tazewell is where we were set free of our addiction. We see the need. We see the women struggling.”
Over the past five years, 385 people were reported to have died of an opioid overdose across 10 counties and two cities in far Southwest Virginia, according to Virginia Department of Health data. About a fifth of the deaths were residents of Tazewell County.
The county’s board of supervisors approved the property purchase in early October, and it will cost about $460,000, County Administrator Eric Young said by phone. The money will come from opioid settlement funds allotted directly to the county by the state — money won from successful lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that fueled the opioid epidemic.
The county created a committee to study how the money could best be used, and it settled on a plan to open recovery residences.
A 2025 state report found there were about 33 accredited recovery residences in an area including Southwest and Southside Virginia, the smallest number across five regions defined by the state’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
The residence, which is near the town of Tazewell, will house as many as 12 women, Sparks said, with the hope of working up to 15 women in the future. She and Howell also want to build a greenhouse and have space for a dog boarding business, giving the women opportunities to keep busy on the property. The goal is for the activities to be therapeutic, she said.
“We just want the women to have a lot to do and learn different skills,” she said.
They will contract with counselors and pair with other organizations to provide training for different kinds of work, as well as other life skills. They are also currently working on getting state-certified, Howell said.
Women will be referred to Hope and Future from the court system and the local social services department, as well as from churches and other nonprofit organizations. Women can also sign up for a stay themselves, Howell said.
It will cost $1,500 a year for someone to stay, with visits lasting up to a year and a half. If a woman doesn’t have the money to pay the full cost, Sparks and Howell said, they will work with her to get church sponsorships to cover it.
Otherwise, costs will be funded through donations, grants and revenue from the thrift store their nonprofit runs in the town of Tazewell’s downtown.
Both Howell and Sparks have gone through the addiction recovery process and attribute their relationship to church as a major reason why they have stayed clean. Because of that, women who stay at the house will be required to attend church services, they said.
Addicted for nearly 20 years
Howell began using opioids when she was around 16 years old and became addicted for nearly 20 years, she said. She spent time in jail and struggled with taking care of her two children. Eventually, she tried to commit suicide, praying to God that she wouldn’t go to hell, she said.
“What I know is that I woke up from something I should have never woke up from,” Howell said. “The only thing I knew I hadn’t tried was really surrendering my life to the Lord. Now, he’s just been opening up door after door for us to be able to help other people.”
She has been sober for about eight years, she said.
Sparks’ mother was a drug addict, and their family was homeless from time to time. She also spent time in foster care. When she got married at 16, both she and her husband became addicted to drugs for several years, and they eventually lost custody of their son.
Then, the couple tried going to church.
“I was in a very hopeless and dark place, and by the grace of God, he pulled me out and helped me recover,” Sparks said. “When God does something like that for you, it’s not just for you. It’s to help your sisters and your brothers, show them the way out. That’s what truly birthed the passion inside of both of us.”
Sparks and her husband have since regained custody of their son and also have another child.
Tazewell County is also working with nonprofit Fairview Housing to find a location for a men’s recovery residence, Young said.
For both residences, the county will own the property and the nonprofits will lease them for $1 a year, Young said. That means if either of the nonprofits is unsuccessful and has to pull out of operations, the county can maintain the building and look for another organization to run a recovery residence there, he said.
“We have confidence in them,” Young said. “We think they’ll do an excellent job, but we feel like that’s a good investment of our funds rather than just making grants to organizations.”
Tazewell County will have about $1.5 million left in opioid settlement funds after the women’s residence purchase. Some of that will be spent on the upcoming men’s residence, and some may be spent on adding a bathroom and renovating other parts of the women’s residence, Young said.
