WATERGAP – It’s been several years since Renee and Jimmy McCoy first started the Hope in the Mountains drug treatment center, located at Watergap.

The facility, which is housed in a two-story, red brick house that looms large just off U.S. 23 near the Watergap overpass, functions as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for women, housing approximately 10 women at any given time.

The house and land on which it sits were leased earlier in the decade to the McCoys from the Kinzer family for $1 a year.

In the beginning months, Jimmy McCoy spent a great deal of time adjusting to the task of securing outside funding to keep his and Renee’s dream alive. They reached out to friends and organizations early on. And, today, that reaching out is obvious as the rehab center just received another round of funding from the Floyd County Fiscal Court.

During a special-called meeting late last week, members of the Floyd County Fiscal Court approved a donation to Hope in the Mountains for $50,000.

“This is a multi-county project that is doing a lot of good,” Floyd County Judge-Executive R.D. “Doc” Marshall said. “We’re happy to be able to help see that it continues.”

This past spring in Perry County, the center received another boost in funding to see work continued.

At WYMT’s headquarters in Hazard, viewers helped raise $23,000 for the center through a fifth annual telethon held at the news station’s studio. The fundraiser featured live entertainment and gave Renee McCoy the chance to again explain the reasons for her and Jimmy to start the center in the first place.

“If they’re not in treatment, they’re out on the street,” Renee McCoy told those in attendance for the telethon. “Some of them were in jail or some of them could be dead right now, but we’ve given them a second chance.”

There is currently no clear outline for how the $50,000 given by the county will be used, other than for general operations.