Marble Falls woman supplies totally free journey to recovery for those handling drug addictions

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MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN)-- In a quiet Marble Falls community just a couple of streets far from downtown, sits a little, nondescript house that has actually become an epicenter of change.

Paula Mays smiles with good friend at event. (Courtesy: Paula Mays).

As wind chimes sway softly in the breeze, visitors instantly feel a sense of calm outside the home surrounded by signs about love, perseverance and kindness. Similar messages of hope and peace of mind are posted inside your home, laying the foundation for the story of Open Door Recovery House and its creator, Paula Mays.

" If we would like and motivate each other, stroll beside each other, and not judge or toss stones-- this world would be such a much better place," Mays said.

That's part of the objective at Open Door, a faith-based, sober-living house for females that opened in 2010. Paula Mays and friends painting items for Open Door Recovery House.

To much better comprehend why Mays has actually devoted her life to Open Door and guys and ladies dealing with drug addiction, you must first understand her hard personal journey.

" I was in South Dakota, and within a couple of years my mom married an abusive man, and my first memory was at 2 years old of being sexually assaulted. I was locked in trunks of cars and trucks," Mays discussed.

By the time she grew older, she thought life would alter, but it didn't.

" In my 20s, I started trying to find other compounds to change the way I felt, just to be able to cope," Mays said.

In 1999, she found herself in jail, looking at a 99-year jail term. She was married and divorced with 6 children at that time. She said by the grace of God, the federal charges she was dealing with, were dropped. She had moved to Texas, which she states assisted separate her from drugs and alcohol. She started going to 12-Step healing conferences, signed up with a church and she stated the kindness she experienced was life-altering.

" I was able to reconstruct with God. It's all Him. It was genuinely fantastic: His fantastic grace, His power and His love," Mays stated.

She started serving in soup kitchen areas and at jails together with women in her same recovery program. That is when she satisfied 3 different females having a hard time to reach sobriety. She bears in mind that they didn't have a place to stay or a support system, meaning death or prison became their only escape.

" I believed, ‘‘ These women require a location to go. Paula Mays serving food to those in need with the help of volunteers.

That was her safe house, and she wished to create something comparable for other women. It remained in that minute, assessing that runaway shelter, that she recognized her purpose: to bring the message of hope and recovery by starting Open Door.

It began small with meetings in a church and by 2013, a house was acquired, a campaign paid it off and the doors were open for women in the community. Through neighborhood grants and contributions, Open Door homes as much as eight females at a time, totally free, for up to a year. Mays guides the ladies from addicting way of lives to lives of sobriety, performance and productive subscription within society, by using AA Big Book, Bible studies and other programs.

" We stroll beside them. We encourage them in their battle. We walk with them through CPS, probation and parole," Mays described.

The females have a structured schedule that starts early in the early morning and consists of weekly meetings and studies to help manage their recovery. The women likewise have to carry out 17 hours of volunteering each week.

Alicia Defranco said Open Door altered the trajectory of her life.

Alicia Defranco postures with her 2 daughters. (Courtesy: Alicia Defranco).

This is where I found out how to be a human," Defranco stated. "I started utilizing when I was 10 years old and by the time I was 17, I was a full-blown opiate heroin addict.".

Defranco was on the run and by the time she transferred to Texas, she lost custody of her kids.

" I was so damaged. I was so damaged," Defranco stated.

When somebody informed her about Open Door, she was in a correctional center in Uvalde. She wrote a letter to Mays, asking to be a part of the program. Mays picked Defranco up when she was released, took her out to eat and brought her to Open Door.

" It was a relief because I understood I got to remain sober even longer," Defranco keeps in mind. "I was expecting a rehab center and I walked in, and it was a home, and it was frustrating when she revealed me my bed room, bathroom and took me to get clothing.".

Defranco paid for absolutely nothing during the time she invested at Open Door.

" I never ever had a need not satisfied here," Defranco said.

After months of inner recovery at Open Door, she became sober and had the ability to start a brand-new journey with her family.

Alicia Defranco envisioned with her two daughters. (Courtesy: Alicia Defranco).

" What a wonder she is. There are so many miracles out there-- they just need someone to walk beside them," Mays stated. "Don't quit on your enjoyed one who is battling with dependency.".

Defranco says Mays is not just her hero, but a hero for many females who are forgotten and not supported by their households or their neighborhoods.

" She's my incentive. She's my backbone. She is my foundation," Defranco said.

" If you see magnificence in my story, it is God. It is all Him. He does the heavy lifting," Mays stated. "I am so grateful that I survived because by all accounts I should not have.".

According to information from Open Door Recovery House, for females who lived in the home this previous program year (From September 2021 to September 2022), the non-recidivism rate was a record high of 85%. Paula Mays teaching the neighborhood about resources provided by Open Door. (Courtesy: Paula Mays).

Mays also assists women recuperate their kids from CPS and foster care. If females leave the program early, by breaking guidelines or just leaving, she helps them discover other support.

Her work is solely funded by contributions and grants, she hopes to broaden to help more ladies throughout the state.