Women in need can find a home at Magdalene House
A house in Oklahoma City is destined to become a haven for the women who will soon call it home.
After months of searching for just the right place, a residence was purchased to become the new Magdalene House OKC, founded by the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma.
Joining the national Thistle Farms support network for women, Magdalene OKC is a nonprofit organization offering a residential program with recovery and healing support for women who have experienced abuse, sexual exploitation, addiction or incarceration.
The Rev. Diana Orwig, a Magdalene House OKC board member and deacon at Yukon’s Grace Episcopal Church, said women in the program may live in the newly purchased house at no cost for up to two years as they pursue sobriety, self-worth, health and financial independence.
“It’s really designed to make sure that you’ve had the opportunity to get what you need to be able to survive and function, and we think that’ll take a while,” she said.
Orwig said she hopes to see the first Magdalene House OKC residents, perhaps two or three initially, move in during the summer. She said as a general rule, the Magdalene OKC board will not disclose the address of the house to give its residents privacy as they recover and heal.
The Rev. Tim Baer, Magdalene House OKC board president, said efforts are being made to raise an additional $50,000 for renovations to the house nestled in an Oklahoma City neighborhood. Baer, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, said the organization wants to add an additional bathroom, divide an old game room into several bedrooms and clean up the property’s landscaping.
“We want to make sure the house looks great in the neighborhood that it’s in, not only for the neighbors, but we also want the house to look really good and well taken care of because that inspires the dignity and worth in the women who will be residents,” Baer said.
“We want them to invest in themselves and their growth, so we’re making sure that the home is ready to be a true home — more than a transitional home or a quick stop. We want it to be home for them while they’re there.”
Baer said the purchase of the home was a major step in the process to get the program up and running. The next step besides additional fundraising and the house renovation is the hiring of an executive director for the residential women’s residential program. He said a job description for the position will be publicized soon.
“Being able to purchase the house brings us a little bit closer to our ability to open the home,” Baer said. “We’ve got the Baer program support funded,
and so those pieces are all falling into place.”
‘Love heals’
The Thistle Farms network was founded by the Rev. Becca Stevens, an Episcopal priest and author based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Magdalene House OKC program will be modeled after the first Magdalene House that Stevens opened in Nashville.
Orwig and Baer were among a group of Oklahoma Episcopal leaders who were inspired to found Magdalene House OKC after Stevens’ 2019 presentation at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Oklahoma City. Stevens visited Oklahoma City at the invitation of the Rt. Rev. Ed Konieczny, who was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, at that time. She addressed a large group of people as part of the annual Bishop’s Lecture series and brought with her women who were part of her Thistle Farms network.
The Rt. Rev. Poulson Reed, Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma bishop, made Magdalene House OKC the focus of his 2021 Bishop’s Appeal fundraising initiative which raised more than $90,000 to get the program started. At the time, Reed said Magdalene House OKC would support women by helping them break cycles of addiction, trauma, sexual exploitation, poverty, incarceration and recidivism.
Magdalene House OKC board members said other funding to help purchase the house and operate the program for several years came from the E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation, houses of worship and individuals.
Orwig said a list of items for a registry for the home will be be publicized soon so that people may purchase sheets, towels and other household items for Magdalene House residents. She said board members are encouraging donors to purchase new items because they want the residents to feel loved following the motto of the Thistle Farms Magdalene House in Nashville: “Love heals.”
“So, we want everything in the house to be clear that it’s been done with a lot of love and a lot of intention and a lot of respect,” Orwig said. “That’s really important to us.”