Doing what you believe in
Fleming House celebrates 15th year of serving community
The late Luceille Fleming was a leader, an advocate for women recovering from addiction. She was compassionate and caring about the women at the big yellow house behind McDonald’s that bears her name. She could be compassionate and caring because she once stood where they stand: facing addiction – and the stigma of it – head on, recovering from it, and spending her life working in the field of addiction recovery, fighting the battles with insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and doctors. Fleming believed education of the public was extremely important to the cause of recovery.
The 15th anniversary of Fleming House was celebrated recently at the apartment complex that houses women in recovery and their children for 18 months while they work on getting and staying clean and working toward independence and a new opportunity to achieve their lifetime goals. While at Fleming House they either work or go to school, according to their individual plans. They agree to a set of rules, including not dating for the first 12 months. This is a time for them to get to know who they are.
Fleming’s daughter, Sue Ladd, and her companion attended the celebration, bringing along some mementoes of the very opening of Fleming House in 2002.
“Fleming House was my mother’s highest honor,” Ladd said. “She always gave Eloise credit for it.” She noted that ODADAS (Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services), where Mrs. Fleming served as the director, gave Eloise Traina, executive director of Family Recovery Center, a $10,000 grant and the big yellow house was the end result when Traina found other financial support to put with the grant.
Ladd was 18 years old and starting college when her mother called on the phone and announced, “I am an alcoholic.” She grew up in an upper class neighborhood where everyone watched out for everyone. But she never knew about her mother’s problem with alcohol until that phone call.
“I said, ‘OK, Mom.” She would help her mother any way that she could. “She would say, ‘Take me to the mall.’ And I would say, ‘Whatever you want, Mom.'” She took her mother to AA meetings. She sat in the car in the parking lot to wait for her mother however long it took.
Fleming died at the age of 92. As long as she was able to make the trip to visit the Fleming House family, she did. Ladd said she wanted to come more often, but as her health declined she was unable to make the trip from Columbus. And she wanted the women to remember her as strong and determined.
Each time she came to Fleming House she brought something for the house. As they planned her last visit to Fleming House, Mrs. Fleming told Ladd she had to bring something to the house. It must be personal. She was an English major and books were important to her. She asked her daughter to take her to Barnes and Noble where she bought a collection of children’s books that are kept on the bookshelf in the common room of Fleming House.
Fleming believed in what she was doing and believed that education of the public, of law enforcement, is important.
The traditions of Fleming House continue under the watchful guidance of Family Recovery Center. Renovations are ongoing at the house where the carpeting and appliances are being replaced , new roof is going on, and also on the list to get attention is the heating and cooling system. The playground also will be refurbished.
Traina cited a 65-percent success rate for the graduates of the 18-month recovery program. Christina Wolf, manager of Fleming House for the past three years, reported six new babies at Fleming House, the two most recent being less than two months old at this time. “You get attached,” she said, and the children slip away from their apartments to visit with the staff in their offices. The family-oriented environment is a part of the recovery process.
Friends of Fleming House visited the informal open house to share memories of the first 15 years. Some of the former and current residents spoke openly about their experiences.
“This house changed my life,” said Laura Martin. She moved into Fleming House with her children in 2005. “In the two years I spent here, I rebuilt my life. It felt so good to finally be sober.” She earned a bachelor’s degree while living at Fleming House, and was employed as house manager by Family Recovery Center. Currently she is the coordinator of FRC’s Medication Assisted Treatment program helping those with addiction to find their way to recovery. She is ever grateful that her path led to Fleming House.
“Feeling safe and supported here, being surrounded by other women with the same struggles … that was very comforting to me,” she said. “This is such a wonderful place.”
Alicia also lived at Fleming House for nearly two years. She currently works in the field of corrections and sees many women who are where she used to be. “Living at Fleming House helped me to develop responsibility for my actions. I had to own my behavior … Admit that I had a problem. I didn’t want to admit that before I came here.”
It wasn’t easy, she said. “I had a lot of trust to rebuild among my friends and family. But all the people here who supported me helped me to do just that. I have a good job. I have responsibilities. And they (my employer) actually trust me with keys.”
Tabby lived at Fleming House twice. “I had to learn the hard way that if I didn’t respect myself, nobody else was going to do that for me. And that was so empowering.” While living at the house she developed the skills and confidence she needed to find a good job.
“I had nowhere else to go when I showed up here,” said a current resident of Fleming House. “And I’ve been welcomed by the other girls, by my case managers and counselors. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I know this is where I want to be.
Fleming House is a program of Family Recovery Center. For more information about Fleming House call 330-420-3760.
Addiction has no address, but Family Recovery Center does. For more information about the education, prevention and treatment programs for substance abuse and related behavioral issues, contact the agency at 964 N. Market St., Lisbon; phone, 330-424-1468; or e-mail, info@familyrecovery.org. FRC is funded, in part, by United Way of Northern Columbiana County.
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