In the late ‘90’s, former WRAL-TV General Manager Fred Barber traveled to Kentucky with Barbara Goodmon and Maria Spaulding to tour the model for what they hoped could be a facility to help homeless men find sobriety in the Triangle. The trio came back determined to make The Healing Place happen in Raleigh. This documentary shows the work of The Healing Place in Louisville, Kentucky which became the inspiration for the The Healing Place in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Fred just was a unique person,” said Goodmon, now President of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation. “He made a decision and went forward with that. He kept us going. He was our engine.”
They worked together to raise $4 million to build the facility near downtown. They broke ground in 2000, and celebrated the grand opening in January 2001.
“It totally changed Raleigh,” said Goodmon. “It totally changed downtown Raleigh. It could not be the place it is today without the Healing Place.”
Fred Barber served on the Board of Trustees and was an active volunteer at The Healing Place up until the time of his death.