Dear Friends of Epiphany,

I was recently asked to write what being at Epiphany Center means to me to share with prospective donors. I decided to share it with all of you here and in our latest issue of our FOCUS newsletter.

Being at Epiphany Center gives me the privilege of helping many children, whose mothers are challenged by substance addiction, homelessness, unemployment, and long histories of trauma and abuse. We listen to each mother’s story and their dreams for the future of their children. You can read two of these stories in the latest newsletter. Like Sarah and Julia, the women at Epiphany show amazing courage, resilience, humility, and faith. Most women come to the residential program from the streets, jail, court diversion programs, and hospitals after giving birth. It is difficult to overcome any addiction but to also have to cope with hunger, housing, and a child’s needs would be almost impossible without support. Many have little or no contact with their families.

Epiphany Center has been named on Newsweek’s list of Best Addiction Treatment Programs in America for the last four years of the five years there has been a list. I believe it is because we have continued to evolve and develop several great programs, and because every staff is also imbued with the Vincentian Values of Respect, Compassion, and Advocacy.  

Epiphany strives to provide a holistic support system for a woman’s recovery: recovery counseling; free, quality, licensed therapeutic childcare; parenting groups that emphasize positive attachment; trauma-informed care for women and children; early intervention for prenatal drug exposure; an on-site pediatric clinic; on-site mental health clinic; wellness and good nutrition. Services are also provided for partners as needed because we recognize that the whole family needs to be strengthened together. 

    A great example of how we continuously work to evolve this support system to better meet the needs of the families we serve is the in-progress expansion of our Early Childhood Education Center. Upon completion, we will be able to support nearly triple the number of children we currently support via our first ever Pre-K program, 4 additional classrooms, and a 17,450 square-foot learning and play green schoolyard. I invite you to learn more about this very exciting project in the newsletter or in this blog post.

I eat supper with our women every Wednesday evening. I listen to their stories and their dreams. I let them know how grateful I am that they have come to Epiphany because I believe that God has brought them—and me—here at this time. We provide the classes and the tools they need to change and maintain sobriety, but they do the hard work with grace and gratitude. We have regular town hall meetings where they have an opportunity to find their voices for self-advocacy. Their successes are recognized and celebrated and their transition to the community includes a sobriety plan.

Our women are amazing in their fight to do all they can to overcome years of addiction, often to be a good mom, but often because they want to live. One woman said, “I’m not here for my baby; I’m here for me and then I can take care of my baby.” In many of their stories there is a common theme: “Epiphany saved my life.”

I want to thank each of you for assisting Epiphany Center in helping our women achieve their hopes and dreams to live life more fully.

Blessings for a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas,

Sister Betty Marie Dunkel, D.C.

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