COMPASS to celebrate 30th birthday

4/30/2001

A leading area substance-abuse agency celebrates its 30th anniversary today.

“I am very proud of what we do for the community,” said Bill Sanford, chief executive officer.

“Having an open house is a way to recognize our history and the challenges to look at new ways to treat people with substance abuse issues.”

COMPASS is an adult alcohol treatment facility affiliated with the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board of Lucas County and the Greater Toledo United Way.

Highlights of the program are to include a 60-minute ceremony to name the facility's two conference rooms after its two original halfway houses, the former Christoff House and Morley House, both of which were in North Toledo.

The houses were established 30 years ago when the agency began as the Halfway House Residence, Inc., Toledo's only rehabilitation center for alcoholics. It served several hundred people a year and had a $90,000 annual operating budget in its first few years of operation.

COMPASS helps 5,000 people annually. It has an annual budget of $3 million.

The naming ceremony begins at 3 p.m.