DOWAGIAC — Often, federated Covenant Church offers guidance to those recovering.  Now, the church is undergoing its own process of recovery.

The Federated Covenant Church in Dowagiac is hosting a golf outing at 9 a.m. Sunday at Spruce Ridge Golf Club to help cover the costs of replacing items stolen from the church late last month.

Valerie Jones, a case manager for the problem-solving courts, stepped in to set up the charity golf outing, which will host registration for four-person teams for $180. The event will also have contest holes and auction donations. Jones is planning the event to replace the stolen items and give back to the church, which gives so much to the community, she said.

“It would be great if we could raise enough money to replace what was stolen, but it would also be great to raise enough money to help with a security system here,” said Barb Howes, the program coordinator for the county’s Family Treatment Court.

Preston Collett, a recovery pastor at the church, was holding one of its weekly recovery meetings at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28 when another church volunteer, Aaron Lohr, called the Dowagiac Police Department after he noticed two laptops and various microphones were missing. The stolen items were used by the church to run visuals and sound during their masses and meetings.

Lohr told the officer responding that the laptops were worth no value, but the files inside were valuable to the church. An officer dusted for fingerprints and took photos of the various offices where the items were stolen from.

Federated Covenant Church works with the Cass County problem-solving courts to host both faith and non-faith based groups which meet on almost every night of the week, Collett said.

For the past six years, the church has also been hosting Celebrate Recovery, a recovery ministry Collett started, which has since evolved to help more people.

Celebrate Recovery hosts about 50 to 70 people on Saturday nights, while smaller groups of eight to 12 participants from the problem-solving court meet on a weekly basis. Overall, 100 to 125 people are served each week at the church through the help of volunteers.

Howes said the church also hosts opportunities for parents to safely reunite with their children who are in the foster care system.

“[The church] has supervised family or parenting time, and this is a great setting,” Howes said. “They allow us to do all the things the court does here. We don’t have to pay rent, and we have a key. They are very welcoming and hospitable.”

Through the church’s partnership with the problem-solving courts, groups led by Collett discuss multiple paths to recovery and encourages participants to do what works for them.

“With us being a recovery church, people are transitioning also in their life but through this church,” Collett said. “It’s welcoming to have a church that will open its doors to anyone. That’s what we pride ourselves on.”

Howes said the church is central to the recovery community in the county as it will be in Dowagiac indefinitely. Problem-solving courts are time limited, she said. Some people may spend 12 to 20 months going through the courts, but the church can help serve problem-solving courts, alumni and graduates.

“This is definitely a grassroots effort and it’s because people believe in recovery,” Howes said.

Those with questions about the charity golf outing to support Federated Covenant Church in Dowagiac can contact Valerie Jones (269) 325-2775 or Preston Collett (269) 635-0335.