“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow,” reads the Maya Angelou quote that hangs above Mitch Smith’s desk, and he draws strength from it when he’s struggling. 

“That’s something I look up at, sometimes many times a day, depending on the challenges of the day,” Smith said. It’s a message that stays with Smith, each day, in his work at a women’s recovery center in a remote area of Perry County, Kentucky. 

It’s a message the center’s residents have to believe as well. Buckhorn Children and Family Services helps not only women and men in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. It also helps troubled boys at the Dessie Scott Children’s Home in Pine Ridge. Buckhorn works to preserve families who are at risk of having their children taken and provides foster care for kids who need significant therapeutic support.

Youth who come to Buckhorn have often experienced multiple traumas. At least three-quarters of them have a history of attempted suicide, and four out of five have experienced sexual abuse. More than half have used drugs, and 90%  have a parent with a history of drug abuse.

Smith came to Buckhorn after working in local government finance in nearby Breathitt County. “It’s been a humbling and educational experience for me as someone who never worked in this type of world prior to this job,” Smith said of his work at Buckhorn. “You read some of these files on these clients and what they face, and then you see them come in, many times in a super-fragile state, and as they work through our program and evolve and grow, it’s really hard to communicate in words the impact it has.” 

The nonprofit’s work is centered in Perry, Wolfe, Pulaski and Laurel counties, though some of their services are available to those farther afield. Many of the communities they serve are in coal country, and the decline of coal mining has contributed to further impoverishment. Wolfe County has the lowest median household income in the nation — less than $20,000 annually — and more than half of its children live below the poverty line.

As Chief Financial Officer at Buckhorn, Smith has shepherded the financing of the Rogers Cottage solar expansion, knowing that money saved on power bills can be put back into these life-changing services. The first phase of the project opened in 2021, but Buckhorn didn’t yet have the resources to build it out to full power.

The second phase of the project adds about 27 kilowatts, more than doubling its size. It is expected to provide 36,724 kilowatt hours annually, 

Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, the Mountain Association, Everybody Solar, and Solar Moonshot all contributed to the project, which Smith said depended on multiple partners. “It could have never happened any other way,” he said. “With the two phases together, you’re looking at well over $200,000. For a nonprofit, where we literally have to watch every dollar, it would have been a pipe dream.”

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, nonprofits like Buckhorn are eligible for a 30% U.S. Treasury payment after installation, along with an additional 10% because the project is located in a community impacted by the changing energy economy. Pitched as “solar in the heart of coal country,” the first phase of the Rogers Cottage array was named Solar Builder Magazine’s “Ground-Mounted Project of the Year” in 2021.

The array fulfills a long-held dream within the organization of pivoting to renewable energy sources. “Buckhorn Children and Family Services has always wanted to be a leader in our community, not only to other nonprofits, but to the private sector and to individuals as well,” Smith said. “Bringing solar and alternative sources of energy is a big way to do that to our communities. What better way to be a leader, than to actually put our best foot forward, and show people you know what the results can be, and encourage and be a resource for other people?”

Buckhorn started in 1903 as a K-12 college, then became an orphanage and children’s home. It has continued to evolve to meet the area’s significant needs, including adding adult substance abuse treatment. “We’re very remote,” Smith said of Rogers House and nearby Midway Cottage, which houses men in recovery. “There’s basically one highway in and out. The whole remoteness of it can be conducive to recovery.”

Clients can hike, canoe, garden and care for animals. They are also developing an equine therapy program operational for adults. And the solar panels have piqued client interests as they think about workforce re-entry after treatment.

“One of our objectives is to increase awareness, not only to other nonprofits and corporations, but to individuals as well,” Smith said. “It’s definitely a plus for everybody.”

It took about five years to fund and install an array capable of powering the Rogers Cottage campus, and a lot of looking up at Maya Angelou for hope. “You just have to push forward and get through it,” Smith said. “When you finally see a dream and a project, a multi-year project, come to fruition, it just shows that determination, perseverance, persistence, gets the job done every time.”