August 6, 2018
The Magdalen House, or Maggie’s House, as it is known, is a cost-free recovery community for women. Started in Dallas more than 30 years ago, Maggie’s House has called East Dallas’s Little Forest Hills neighborhood home for 22 years.
The Magdalen House is not a treatment center, but a supportive educational environment, providing an intensive orientation to the solution of recovery embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Maggie’s House offers three distinct programs: Social Detox, Peer Recovery, and Community Outreach. All of their programs and services are offered at no cost. The Magdalen House accepts no government funding and is solely supported by private donations and strong community partnerships.
Trader Joe’s and the North Texas Food Bank donate food for the women to cook for themselves. The For the Love of the Lake board (on which I have served since January) often donates fruit after our Second Saturday events. In turn, the women of Maggie’s House scheduled a special lake clean-up with For the Love of the Lake in May. I enjoyed getting to know the women and was impressed by what they are doing in our community. I also appreciated their efforts to give back to the local organizations that are supporting them. It’s a win-win for the entire community.
The Bar Method (White Rock), where I have been taking barre classes since June, has also teamed up with Maggie’s House. The shared goal of building healthy bodies and minds in East Dallas is the perfect partnership. Bar Method is hosting special donation-based classes to support Maggie’s House, and is also holding a supply drive for much needed items. This week I selected several items off the “donations list” to bring to class.
The Magdalen House has a wide array of volunteer opportunities that include working directly with women in their Social Detox Program as sponsors, providing administrative support to staff, and helping out with house maintenance.
What organization is helping people in your neighborhood, and how can you assist them in their mission?
