Mike Harden served in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War. He came home with a new battle to fight, cocaine addiction. He found freedom from his addiction through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which gave him the vision to start a faith-based, nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation program known as “No Longer Bound” in Cumming, Ga.

No Longer Bound opened up a new campus last year in Waco and is currently providing residential treatment for 27 men with addiction problems. It is housed in the old Waco Elementary School building.

“What we really want to do more than anything else is get community support,” said Jason Wiley, program director of the West Georgia campus. “We want to be fully sufficient in the West Georgia area, with donations and things we can do.”

Wiley, originally from Paulding County, came to Waco to open the center. He brought the first group of 13 men from the main Cumming campus, along with two staff members and an intern.

“I’m a product myself of No Longer Bound,” he said, noting that he was addicted to crack cocaine and meth. “I completed the program in 2007 and stayed on for an internship.”

Wiley later became part of the Cumming staff, working on the Cars for Recovery program which raises money for the program by recycling old automobiles. He jumped at a chance to bring the unique treatment program to this part of Georgia.

“We began looking at the old school building in November, 2010,” he said. “In January, we went before the Haralson County School Board and asked for permission to use the building. They agreed to lease it to us for $1 per year.”

Cleanup began in February and the first patients were brought in March.

The building on 60 Waco School Road already had a history in rehab programs.

“A group called West Georgia Restoration had it first,” Wiley said. “They got tired of running it and Teen Challenge came in and ran if for 30 months. After they left in 2009, the building sat empty for more than a year.”

The program currently has 27 men in treatment, with five staff members and nine interns, known as SLTs (service leader trainers). The program relies entirely on donations and grants and gets no federal or state money. It is currently getting help from the Cumming campus, but hopes to become self-sufficient from West Georgia fundraising activities.

Some funds come from businesses they run, such as a print shop and woodwork shop.

“We also sponsor an annual golf tournament to raise funds,” he said. “The second annual tournament will be Sept. 6 at The Frog golf course in Villa Rica. It begins at 10 a.m. with a shotgun start.”

Entry fees are $600 per team, or $150 individual.

“All proceeds will go to help with day-to-day operations,” Wiley said.

He said the treatment program has a $5,000 non-refundable application fee.

“It covers the whole 10-month program,” he said. “We also have scholarships. We never refuse a guy for lack of money.”

The fee is collected at the time of the intake interview. The fee arrangement is based on the belief that the patient should be financially responsible for his program and it’s a step in his spiritual growth. Wiley said everything is done to make the program affordable.

Wiley said the program is entirely residential since it’s difficult to know what patients are doing when they’re off campus.

“We can learn how they’re dealing with situations as they do their work and classes,” he said.

The program relies on donations of clothing and products, as well as monetary donations. Yard sales is being planned for the fall. The sales will be held on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the gymnasium and sale items will include furniture, appliances and other goods people donate.

“We can use all sorts of household goods and clothing,” Wiley said. “We’re also looking for people who have old barns on their property. We can use the wood to create new furniture, some really nice stuff.”

Mike Rice, a service leader, is heading up the Waco recyling ministry and antiques refurbishing program.

The recycling ministry includes recycling electronics, as well as traditional items. The ministry makes money by selling the scrap metal to processing centers, such as SLM in Carrollton.

The antique program will include reclaiming and making furniture, as well as repurposing antiques to sell at the No Longer Bound booth at the Apple Barrell Antiques market in Bremen. The ministry also hopes to have a thrift store on campus.

“This program has been an awesome experience for me,” Rice said. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through, but it’s been very rewarding. It’s the most intense thing I’ve ever done.”

Rice likes to compare the No Longer Bound program to the process of recycling materials.

“The refabrication of these materials is a definite parallel to the men who are transformed in this program,” he said. “Like some of those metals, we’re melted down and then formed into something new.”

No Longer Bound was incorporated in 1991 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation in Cumming. It moved from being a halfway house to a structured drug and alcohol program. The initial recovery commitment was six months of residential treatment, but as time passed, the regeneration program was developed into a 10-month inpatient treatment center.

The No Longer Bound website is www.nolongerbound.com. The West Georgia campus can be contacted by calling 770-537-1221, or by e-mail to westgeorgia@nolongerbound.com. The fax number is 770-537-1089 and the mail address is 60 Waco School Road, Bremen, GA 30110.