BEAUMONT, Texas — A facility designed to help women going through hard times is set to open December 7, 2022 in Southeast Texas.
The "Dream Center" is non-profit with a national reach that provides opportunities for people to rebuild and transform their lives.
There is currently a program in Beaumont dedicated to helping men.
But soon, the Dream Center of Southeast Texas will welcome six women to the former Al Price State Juvenile Correctional Facility located at 3890 FM 3514 in Beaumont.
The nonprofit is on a mission to help even more women get back up on their feet, but they need the community's help.
The women's dorm will house 24 women at a time with communal living spaces, including a day room, break room and living room.
These areas need furnishings from microwaves to washer and dryers.
Women's Recovery Volunteer Ericka Killen says everything will be free to the women they assist as they are not allowed to have outside work.
"We want them to concentrate on who they are and just getting their selves back, getting their selves healthy mind, body, spirit," Killen said.
There are currently 84 dream centers around the world.
Mike and Vilma Conner met working at dream center in Los Angeles, California in 2003.
The Conner's moved to Texas in 2017, where they were given the opportunity to build the Dream Center of Southeast Texas, which opened October 31, 2017.
"When people have addictions and life controlling problems is usually a lot of chaos in their life, so we want to bring routine back in their lives so we do have a schedule for them," Vilma Conner said.
The Dream Center of Southeast Texas is located on 50+ acres campus off Highway 69.
It's so big that staff and residents use golf carts and bicycles to get around.
Renovations are expensive, costing $35,000 per dormitory just to install a fire sprinkler system.
Their most costly expense is transforming this facility that used to house prisoners, in to a home.
"So, we want to remove all the cells, and like for one dorm alone one of our big dorms, it's going to cost just to renovate and get the walls down, it's gonna be about $100,000," Vilma Conner said.
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