Paula Cunningham wears quite a few hats: registered nurse, certified Biblical counselor, director of medical and payment policy administration at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

She’s also executive director of an organization born from personal tragedy.

The Parker Gill Foundation is named for Cunningham’s son, who died of an accidental opioid-related overdose in 2018 at the age of 20.

“He was actually at the hospital on a ventilator,” when he passed, Cunningham says. “At that time, when I knew I was going to lose him, I made a decision to use his story, and my pain, for a purpose.”

Since Parker’s passing, Cunningham became involved in recovery advocacy, trying to save lives from overdoses.

In addition to heading the foundation and leading a recovery group in Little Rock, she’s board president of Clarksville-based Next Step Recovery Housing and spearheading its inaugural fundraiser, the Denim and Diamonds Gala, planned for Saturday at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. Guests are encouraged to “embrace the theme and dress up in your best denim and bling” for the evening, which will feature special guest Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006.

Begun in 2017 by Jimmy and Chelsea McGill, the faithbased Next Step Recovery Housing was, at first, a women’s house that closed when covid hit, then reopened in Clarksville. Cunningham’s organization helped the agency buy its first house there, and it reopened as a men’s house.

Next Step Recovery offers comprehensive recovery services that also include self-help groups and 12-step meetings; case management and life skills development; and community engagement.

The house, named Parker’s House after Gill’s son, started out with 10 beds; an expansion to 40 beds was made possible by funding from the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership.

FATEFUL ENCOUNTER

The year of Next Step Recovery’s founding was also the year that Cunningham heard Jimmy McGill, a recovering addict himself, speak at a conference she attended.

“It was one of those moments where you know you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be — at the right place at the right time,” she says. “I knew it was more than me just being at a conference.

“I thought, ‘My son is struggling with a substance use disorder.’ I was hearing Jimmy McGill share his story openly in front of 2,000 people. And I thought, ‘This is a game changer,’ because there was so much stigma surrounding substance use disorder, addiction, and I saw how it affected my son. I saw how complicated his attempts at recovery (were). I saw how it affected me — people stigmatized me because I had a son who had an addiction.”

She’d hoped to put her son in touch with McGill — who addressed the problem of peer recovery; the work that his organization was doing.

“But that’s not what happened. What happened is, the disease took my child.”

Shortly after Parker passed away, Cunningham met McGill and began learning more about what he was doing with peer support in Arkansas and with Next Step Recovery.

“I fell in love with what he was doing because it was so different from some of the houses that my son had been in,” Cunningham remembers. “My son went into treatment two or three times, different types of treatment. He actually lived in recovery housing at some place, (in) a different state. I started to imagine what would it have been like if my son could have lived in a place like Next Step Recovery.”

So she joined Next Step Recovery as a board member.

“I was also starting my own foundation because I wanted to support prevention and recovery efforts in Arkansas,” Cunningham continues. Specifically, she wanted to be a part of helping recovery housing to become a safe, peer-run and peer-led place for those getting out of treatment.

Next Step Recovery partners with Link Church in Clarksville, as well as Hagarville Baptist Church and Refuge Church. Client-residents “live in a house that’s named after my child, and it’s just a beautiful thing to be a part of that,” Cunningham says.

Why Clarksville? “They saw a real need there. Clarksville had a high drug-related arrest rate and not a lot of recovery offerings.”

Partnering with Safe Haven, an organization serving women, to provide services (Safe Haven is among the event sponsors), Next Step Recovery has its residents go through a 10-month program that includes a 12-week recovery program. The majority of these men are coming from incarceration, Cunningham says.

HAPPY OUTCOMES

She has seen some happy outcomes. She tells of the time she spoke to some people in a re-entry program at the Lonoke County sheriff’s office. “There were two men there that were so excited because they were to be graduating from that program,” and would be released to Next Step Recovery. “I’ve just seen an amazing transformation in these men.

“And that’s why I support that organization — because it makes a difference. It saves lives.

They’re really changing the lives of the men that go through that program.” They’ve had about 15 people graduate this year already.

“We have seen so many men actually get their life back. They have graduated from the program, gotten jobs,” as well as re-established relationships with their families and children, Cunningham adds.

This is the first year for Denim and Diamonds. Cunningham has headed a planning committee of five that began working on the event more than eight months ago. She praises members of the staff and the board for their creativity in putting it all together, and also gives credit to the gala’s sponsors.

“I think it’s gonna be an amazing night” — one that will include a full dinner and a speech by Conner, who “has her own story of addiction, substance use disorder,” Cunningham says, “She tested positive for cocaine during her reign as Miss USA.” Conner is now a recovery advocate who travels and shares her story. The evening will also include testimonies from several men who have been through the program.

Next Step Recovery has no set fundraising goal. But event proceeds will go toward a variety of expenses relating to its operation.

Clients stay at Parker’s House free of charge for the first two weeks. “And we help them get everything they need to become employable. When they become employed, then they begin paying rent — a very minimal rent.” Money is needed for the upkeep of the house and for the hiring of additional staff. Funds are also needed to buy a new van to take residents to church, recovery programs and meetings as well as outings.

TO-BE-ANNUAL EVENT

Organizers hope the Denim and Diamonds Gala will be a yearly event that will grow, Cunningham says.

“It’s very important for us to do fundraising events like this, just to keep the program growing. (Again), this whole thing is a really big deal to me, because it’s not just an event. It is someone’s life. My son doesn’t have the opportunity to go into a recovery house like this, but other men do. I see part of my son’s story in every one of their stories.

“This is someone’s child, this is someone’s brother, it might be someone’s dad that is going through this program, and so it’s a big deal. It’s more than just an event and putting on bling and having fun. It’s giving someone … a second chance in life.”

Denim and Diamonds will be 5-9 p.m. Saturday in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave. in Little Rock. Individual tickets $150; table of 10: $1,500; nextsteprecoveryhousing.org; eventbrite.com. Each ticket price covers the cost for someone for one week at Next Step Recovery.