Summer Rays founder, Chuck Kirk is not allowed to be on Summer Rays properties, so he moved Tuesday's meeting elsewhere: to the Church of Christ in Reynoldsburg.
"I want [residents] to know that, in a lot of ways, we need this for them and to stay the course and hang in there," he said.
It's been a difficult few days for residents.
"We had 16 relapses in 20 days," Scotta Ramsey said.
On Sunday, one resident passed away believed to be from a possible drug overdose. Ramsey says it's the first death of a Summer Rays resident since November of 2017.
"To hear that in 20 days...and a 22-year-old [dying]...it's very disturbing," Kirk said.
Earlier this month, Lighthouse Behavioral Health Solutions stepped in to help residents with their recovery needs. A spokesman says there hasn't been 16 relapses, but five and all of them were taken directly to treatment.
A statement to 10TV says they were deeply saddened to hear of the resident's passing. They also say "Our staff has been working diligently with residents and we will continue our efforts to provide the individualized services they need to be successful."
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of a resident of Summer Rays this weekend and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and loved ones.
We remain committed to helping the residents through this difficult time and will be offering grief counseling sessions in addition to our standard programming as we all mourn the loss of the resident. Our staff has been working diligently with the residents and we will continue our efforts to provide the individualized services they need to be successful in their recovery. Unfortunately, addiction is a powerful disease and can have tragic outcomes.
We have met individually with all the residents since our involvement and remain committed to providing a program centered around outreach and making resources available."
The Lighthouse rep also talked about factors possibly getting in the way of recovery, saying it's unfortunate Chuck Kirk is still involved with the program and its residents and saying Summer Rays, when Lighthouse first stepped in, had a pretty poor culture of not following rules.
"I think just because you don't understand it doesn't make it wrong," Kirk said.
Even when Lighthouse came into the picture, residents say the rules stayed the same.
"We signed a packet when we got to Summer Rays," Shane Duty said. "It's pretty much the same rules [Lighthouse] has. Very minimal has changed."
Another resident, Richard, says what makes it hard to understand is that Summer Rays was more advanced than your typical rehab.
"[Lighthouse is] trying to take it back to the business model where it had originally started and it had changed from that for these reasons," Richard said.
Kirk says residents are free to call or text him at any time. He says without it, he fears the relapse numbers could and will be much higher.
Previous Coverage:
- DeWine: Sober living charity abused, exploited vulnerable residents
- Residents of Summer Rays express admiration, respect for Chuck Kirk
- 6 relapses occur at Summer Ray residences in less than 24 hours
- Local groups working to help residents at Summer Rays
- DeWine: Family behind charity abused residents, lined their own pockets
- Charity director answers state accusations of abuse, exploitation of sober house residents
- Family says state wants 'piece of the pie' as reason for Summer Rays investigation