People Who Care Ministry is asking for financial assistance from Butler County’s government to help pay for the construction of a shelter for pregnant women with addictions.

Jimmy Flener – president of People Who Care, a Christian-based group that works to help people overcome addiction – appeared at a Butler County Fiscal Court meeting Feb. 25 to request $25,000 to help fund the center.

Though fiscal court adjourned without making a decision on whether to provide any funding to People Who Care, Flener said he hopes a donation to the nonprofit gets written into the county budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

“We’ll just have to wait to see if we’re in the budget for next (fiscal) year,” he said.

Flener said he’s interested in focusing on pregnant women with addictions because he’s heard from local circuit court personnel that they are seeing an increase in cases that involve pregnant, drug-addicted women.

“I just feel like it’s grown,” he said. “We just felt like someone needs to step up and do something.”

Butler County Judge-Executive Tim Flener, who is no immediate relation to Jimmy Flener, could not be reached for comment.

The entire construction project is expected to cost roughly $1.3 million, though the bill could be higher when factoring in furniture and equipment the center would need, Jimmy Flener said.

“But we’ve got to add a lot of stuff like beds and furniture and that’s probably going to bring it to $1.5 million,” he said.

The facility will be located at 105 E. Roberts St. in Morgantown and composed of two houses: One that pregnant women move into for treatment and another where they’ll undergo more treatment after giving birth, Jimmy Flener said.

The shelter is expected to be able to accept up to 16 women at a time and will employ a full-time nurse specializing in prenatal care.

People Who Care’s efforts to raise funds for the center go far beyond asking for fiscal court’s aid, Jimmy Flener said, adding that the group has been fundraising and is working on writing grant proposals.

Though Jimmy Flener said People Who Care is aiming for a June 1 groundbreaking, Bruce Jennings, the group’s CEO, said he expects it will take much longer to get the funding together for the project.

“We’re a long way from that,” he said. “We’re probably looking at maybe next June to be honest.”