Santa Fe Springs : Home for Recovering Women Alcoholics Planned

A sober living center for recovering women alcoholics and their children is being planned for Santa Fe Springs by the Southeast Council on Alcoholism & Drug Problems Inc., a nonprofit organization that oversees a dozen alcoholism and drug programs.

The council will use a $37,500 grant from the Weingart Foundation of Los Angeles and matching funds, $15,000 of which are from the city of Santa Fe Springs, toward the purchase of a facility in the city, said Lynne Appel, executive director of the Downey-based organization.

The grant from the foundation was given on the condition that the council raise the matching funds. The council has a total of $35,000 in matching funds, with $10,000 from Gannett Outdoor Co. of Southern California and $10,000 from various fund-raisers, Appel said. The remaining money is expected to be raised through benefit events and donations, and the council hopes that the center will open in October, Appel said.

Only women who have completed the six-month alcoholic program at Foley House in Whittier, which allows children to live with their mothers during treatment, are eligible for the sober living center.

“When many of the women leave Foley they have no place to go, other than returning to their old neighborhoods and back to a life of drugs and alcohol,” Appel said. “They need a place to live with other sober women. The sober living center will provide them the environment they need.”

The women will be allowed to live at the center for one year.