Tried By Fire, Inc. invites the community to two events this month to celebrate the opening of My Sister’s House at 524 Roundtree St. in the Duffyfield neighborhood of New Bern.
The New Bern area Chamber of Commerce will be the first event with an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. on April 21. The dedication and open house will follow the next day, April 22, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Each day will include tours of this newly completed and furnished transitional home for women newly released from prison or jail. On Saturday, the official opening of Marla’s Closet, located within the Craven Terrace complex, will be added to the tour. This free women’s clothing enterprise is the result of the January MLK Day Women’s Clothing Drive hosted by Tried Fire, Inc. through a grant from The Target Corporation.
“We are so pleased and very proud to welcome the community to share our blessings with the completion of the construction of My Sister’s House. To have these two events scheduled near the end of this month is particularly important since April is designated nationally as Reentry & Second Chance Month,” said Bonita Simmons, Executive Director of Tried By Fire, Inc. “We have been so grateful and blessed to have the support of the New Bern and Craven County community since the beginning of this project in 2019 when an 80-year-old house was donated to our organization. Although that original house was considered too structurally unsound to renovate, the opportunity to begin new construction in January 2022 has allowed for an energy-efficient house with interior adjustments more suitable for our needs to provide safe and supportive housing for up to eight women in a 24/7 supervised nonjudgmental environment,” Simmons explained.
Support for the construction of My Sister’s House was made possible through several grant awards, donations from area civic organizations, churches, and individuals, as well as thousands of dollars of in-kind donations from local businesses. New furnishings have been funded through a special “Sponsor-A-Room” campaign held last summer. “We look forward to recognizing those from this wonderful and generous community who have been such an important part of our mission to provide a safe address for women as they work to rebuild their lives for a better future,” said Simmons. “Because of the amazing support we have received throughout this project, this beautiful home is fully paid for so that we can begin our program with no outstanding debts. We are very proud of this exceptional accomplishment,” she said.
Although the construction has been completed ahead of schedule, the Board of Directors of Tried By Fire, Inc. is still finalizing the arrangements for full-time staffing and other operational details. A live-in house sitter will be moving into the facility on an interim basis for security purposes after the weekend of events. “We are looking forward to welcoming our first guests to My Sister’s House by June, once all of the appropriate preparations are in place for regular operations of this critically needed housing for justice-involved women,” explained Simmons.
Contact Tried by Fire at 252-637-2339
By Deedra Durocher