LIMA — A home that provides a safe place for women recovering from addictions to remain with their children held its grand opening Wednesday and is expected to soon be filled with clients.
The home at a location west of downtown Lima will be home to women and their children up to age 12 who are in the recovery process from an addiction, said Myrtle Boykin-Lighton, the executive director of the Georgia Newsome Recovery Home for Women.
“This will enable the mother to get better and still stay connected with their children,” Boykin-Lighton said.
Georgia Newsome was a community activist, church leader and curator of Lima’s black history who died in 2011. She helped in many Lima initiatives, including housing, neighborhood improvement and elderly care.
The home has room for up to seven families, with a bathroom in each room. Clients are screened through Urbam Minority Alcohol Drug Abuse Outreach Program, and clients also can receiving drug counseling through the agency, she said.
Clients stay at the home and learn life skills, such as parenting and handling finances. They are there long enough to get back on their feet, Boykin-Lighton said.
The home does not take addicts just off the streets but can help find them help, such as an in-patient program, to get help before they may be placed in the Newsome home, Boykin-Lighton said.
While it may be up to seven families living together, the atmosphere will be like one giant family. The home has a kitchen, and families are responsible for their own meals. Similar homes in the past have had one person cook often based on desire and skill, Boykin-Lighton said.
Men are not permitted to live at the home but may visit. They only will be allowed in the common areas, such as the living room or kitchen and not bedrooms, she said.
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