Each year the Wooster Women’s Civic Club supports a wide variety of worthy causes through its fundraising activities.

According to club member Chris White, with money raised through the annual Bridge Marathon and Autumn Traditions luncheon and card party, this year the club made a donation to the Secrest Arboretum restoration fund and sponsored a lunch and movie outing for veterans at Hilltop Villa.

But when the club’s leadership heard about the needs of MOCA House, they knew they had to lend a helping hand.

According to Julie Bogner, MOCA House director, the idea of establishing a peer recovery center for those suffering with severe and persistent mental illness originated two years ago when the First Presbyterian Church parsonage became available.

At the time, Bogner was working for the mental health and recovery board, and noticed that many of their recreational programs were being discontinued.

The warm, inviting atmosphere of the parsonage was the perfect place to establish a program to fill that gap in services.

“A big boost came when the joint service clubs made us the first recipient of their community service program,” said Bogner.

Through the work of the members of the service clubs, and an anonymous donation, the house was renovated and MOCA House opened in August of 2010.

While members of the community came forward with donated furnishings for the house, one room remained empty – the kitchen.

With their funds already distributed to other charitable causes, the Wooster Women’s Civic Club turned to its members to lend MOCA House a hand.

According to White, 100 percent of the club’s membership donated everything from kitchen towels to dishes and filled the cabinets of the MOCA House kitchen.

Bogner said all those items will be put to good use.

Since it opened last August, nearly 100 clients have come through the doors of MOCA House to take part in a wide variety of activities, including peer support groups, outings to local sporting and arts events and holiday parties.

Through these and other activities, clients build something most don’t have – a support system.

“One thing we try to do here at MOCA House is maintain the belief that support from friends and others who have…walked that road is probably the best medicine that is available,” Bogner told the club members gathered at MOCA House for a kitchen shower March 7.

“It’s knowing that somebody is expecting you here. If you say, I’ll be back tomorrow, we’ll be waiting for you,” said Bogner.

The club members also heard firsthand accounts from those taking part in the program about the important role MOCA House plays in their recovery.

“The biggest thing about MOCA House is the support system that I have. I think it is so important for people to think, you’re not the only one out there with a problem,” said one program participant.

“I come here and I’m not judged,” said another client. “I find a lot of camaraderie and understanding. There’s no judgment. It’s just really hopeful.”

Bogner noted that “having friends and family you can count on” is an important aspect to successful recovery, “and that’s a lot of what we’re providing here.”

Not only does MOCA House keep people off the streets, out of jail, and out of behavior health hospitals, “it’s keeping people doing good things for themselves and figuring out how to solve their problems,” said Bogner. “It’s a recovery plan they can hang on to. When I go away or MOCA House goes away, they will still have that resource inside of them.”

For more information on the Wooster Women’s Civic Club, contact Audrey Thomas, club president, at 330-264-7484.

More information on MOCA House can be found at http://www.mocahouse.info.