Home Safe Home

Cedar House in Abilene

In 2012, Patti O’malley and her 19-year-old son were going through recovery for opioid addiction together when her son relapsed and drove off a bridge just five miles from their home. When she lost him, she knew she had to do something.

“I began reaching out to other women, saying, ‘Let’s talk about addiction,’” O’malley says. She opened her home to women needing somewhere to stay for a while. Then she gave her house—literally donated it—to the group. She called it Cedar House. “The only place they know to go back to after rehab is where they’ve come from,” she says. “Now we take them door-todoor, from rehab to Cedar House.”

Today the six-bed facility focuses on hope, healing, and giving back to the community—a key element for women who can feel like pariahs. They have a greenhouse where they grow plants to sell locally. They started a food bank and deliver to anyone in need. Most recently, they began breeding Leonbergers, a unique type of therapy dog. One of the puppies was recently gifted to Thistle Farms in Nashville, Tennessee, an organization that provides housing and jobs for women involved in prostitution, trafficking, and addiction.

Of course, the large and lovable Leonbergers start their therapy work the minute they’re born—at Cedar House. “Women come here to recover and heal, but they end up shining a light for the rest of our community— teaching us how to be kind, how to give back, how to cherish one another,” says supporter Amanda Mcginnis Cormack. “We are so lucky to have Cedar House.”