4th Annual Dinner promotes Healing

By Matt Fritz,  Staff writer

Published: Monday, November 5, 2012 12:57 PM 

La PORTE — On the morning of March 30, 2002, Mann Spittler III came home after a jog to find a note from his daughter asking him to trust her.  Fifteen hours later he found her dead, drowned in the bathtub after an overdose of heroin. This was only four days after she went in for her first treatment session and only 20 days after admitting her heroin addiction to her family.

Moving from dream to reality

Local organizations help renovate Worthy Women Recovery Home

By Matt Fritz
Staff writer

La PORTE — Constructing a home for incarcerated women transitioning to a successful life in La Porte is a dream for Sonshine Troche.

Leadership La Porte County grads honored at banquet

Two graduates of Leadership La Porte County were recognized as outstanding regional leaders at the Leaders as Heroes Banquet in Merrillville.

The event, the 2012 Southshore Leadership Awards, was presented by Leadership Northwest Indiana, and covered the THREE-county area of La Porte, Porter, and Lake counties.

Recovery Home for Women Gets Assistance from LPHS

By Matt Fritz,  Staff writer, 

La PORTE — They broke through plaster, wood and lathe, wielding axes and hammers and other implements to knock down 100-year-old walls as both a means of education and to further a community good.  They were members of the La Porte High School building trades class,

Reclaiming Their Strength

By Lois Tomaszewski, Staff Writer, The News Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY — The saying that good things come in little packages holds true when speaking of D.E. “Sonshine” Troche, the executive director of Worthy Recovery Inc.  Speaking to a crowd of more than 70 women at a luncheon at Emma’s Eats,  the small-statured speaker shared her vision for how women can reclaim their  strength and “burn the box that they are in.”  Troche won the 2011 Athena Award from the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce, La Porte County Convention & Visitors Bureau and PNC Bank for helping establish a substance-abuse recovery home in La Porte for women released from the LaPorte Jail.  She talked openly about her past, which included substance abuse and anger issues. Her message was one that resounded

2011 Worthy Women Recovery Home Dinner: A Night of Support and Hope

By Matt Fritz
Staff writer
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

La PORTE - A community's heart reveals itself at times when a people's goal is honest and good and hopeful. The hearts of LaPorte County and Northwest Indiana truly stepped forward at the 3rd annual Worthy Women Recovery Home (WWRH) Benefit Dinner on Saturday, November 12th.

Almost 190 Worthy Women Recovery Home supporters gathered together Saturday for a night of great food with friends to learn about what WWRH and the greater law enforcement community are doing to combat the very real substance abuse issues in LaPorte County. Guests also learned how they themselves could help recently incarcerated women succeed in their communities through WWRH.

People from all walks of life spoke on many topics central to WWRH's mission. Dinner attendees viewed video testimonials from former inmates who have successfully completed Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), an evidence-based re-entry program which will be featured at WWRH. Without re-entry programs of any kind, re-arrest rates at the LaPorte County Jail Indiana are 75-85%.