Shalom House Marks 25 Years of Service, Colorful History
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
It started with a dream. More than a quarter-century ago, a woman in Anderson County wanted a safe and nurturing place for women who faced life-debilitating issues due to drug and alcohol abuse to find a better way.
Stacey Riddley, who had experienced the struggles with addiction herself, knew how few recovery places there were for women to stay while they found the tools to experience a new life and offers supervised independent living where women find a job while attending life-skill classes, with the goal of total economic independence.
Working with friends and family and local business leaders, the old Vandiver House on East River Street on the edge of the city, which had suffered from years of neglect, was the first step to fulfilling the dream. Those same friends alongside volunteers who helped with every aspect of the project renovated the house and it became the ministry’s first home.
Not long after, it became year far more space would be needed to even put a dent in the demand for help. Recovery beds for women were rare. There were more than a dozen places for men seeking recovery to go for residential treatment, but almost nowhere for women.
When the Shiphrah Ministries Farm on Blake Dairy Road in Belton went on the market in 2006, it looked like the perfect location. With 104 acres, a dorm living rooms, a commercial kitchen, a chapel and a serene lake on the property, no place better exhibited the goal of Shalom to provide women “A Place of Uncommon Peace.”
But another group, The Natura Christian Fellowship, was first in line to purchase the property and add housing, camping facilities and townhouses on the property. But when the Belton community discovered the group was for a Christian nudist community, the uproar led to the group withdrawing from the deal, opening the door for Shalom.
For years afterward, Shalom reckoned that God opened the door for them by giving the community a choice between a women’s recovery center and a nudist colony, eroding what might have been a more uphill challenge.
In the years that followed more than 1,000 women have gone through the program, many of whom have gone on to great success and continue to support Shalom’s work today.
Among the dreams for the future is the Anderson Smiles group to assist those afflicted with mental illness as a safe and encouraging place to gather for meetings.
On Saturday, both the Anderson County Council and Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce were at the farm to celebrate and honor the work Shalom continues to provide in the area.
For more information, or to volunteer or donate, visit here.