Ben Hensley<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The LightHouse Recovery Center celebrated the grand opening of its new Little Lights Childcare Center with a ribbon cutting Thursday, expanding the Fresno nonprofit\u2019s recovery program to allow mothers to live with their children while receiving treatment and other services.<\/p>\n
Community members, supporters and local officials gathered for the ceremony and open house at the new facility at 235 N. Fulton St. in Downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n
Little Lights will provide women with the same recovery, education, therapy and reentry services available through LightHouse while giving their children a place to live and receive childcare during the day.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019ll figure it out later.\u2019<\/p>\n
For LightHouse founder Vikki Luna, the idea grew out of a problem the organization had encountered for years \u2014 women with children needed its sober living services, but the organization lacked the space, childcare and transportation needed to adequately serve families.<\/p>\n
That need became particularly clear about three years ago, when a pregnant woman with little family support asked to enter the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the care that we needed to provide for the little baby that she was going to give birth to,\u201d Luna said during Thursday\u2019s ceremony. \u201cI went home that night and I felt like, if we didn\u2019t say yes, that baby was not going to see the light of day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna called the woman back.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can come. We\u2019ll figure it out later,\u201d she told her.<\/p>\n
The organization ultimately found a family willing to care for the child while the mother received services, but Luna said the experience became part of the inspiration for Little Lights and a more permanent way to keep families together during treatment.<\/p>\n
A need years in the making<\/p>\n
At the new facility, children will live with their mothers rather than visiting them on weekends or staying elsewhere while their mothers participate in the program.<\/p>\n
Mothers will be able to leave their children onsite while they attend classes or go to work, with children cared for by background-checked service providers, Luna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this house represents is, women can now come to us for the same exact services that the women on L Street are receiving, but they can have their children living with them,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n
Keeping mothers and children together<\/p>\n
The home was recently purchased and renovated in a three-month turnaround, with community partners and local tradespeople contributing labor, materials and services.<\/p>\n
Luna said several companies donated services and materials, including plumbing, doors and flooring.<\/p>\n
Keith McCain, chairman of the LightHouse board, said the facility also gives the organization an opportunity to help families earlier, aiming to prevent circumstances that result in children being separated from their mothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this building represents, I hope you see, is the ability to intervene before the children are removed from the family,\u201d McCain said.<\/p>\n
He said the organization\u2019s mission extends beyond sobriety to restoring families and strengthening the broader community.<\/p>\n
Community support brings project to life<\/p>\n
Carlos Huerta, executive director of Fresno Pacific University\u2019s Center for Community Transformation, highlighted the partnerships behind the project and LightHouse\u2019s efforts to provide long-term support rather than temporary assistance.<\/p>\n
Luna credited donors, volunteers, contractors, staff and community partners with turning the idea into a functioning home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank you to every single person who poured into making Little Lights happen,\u201d Luna said. \u201cWe dreamt about this several years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Lights joins a broader network of programs operated by the faith-based LightHouse Recovery Center to help women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction through housing, education, employment training and other support.<\/p>\n
The new center, Luna said, adds children directly to that mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so excited to be able to plant seeds in the gardens of the hearts of the children who are now going to come to us through Little Lights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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