Women’s recovery home to open in Hamilton with help from state

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A nonprofit received $125,000 from Ohio leaders to help fund a women’s recovery home in Hamilton.

The Fringe coffee shop in Hamilton provides second-chance jobs to people fresh out of jail or prison, and now, the company is looking to provide transitional housing to women battling addiction in Butler County.

Aug. 31 is Overdose Awareness Day.

For Jennifer Lipps, the day serves as a reminder of how an overdose can impact a family.

“On Sept. 8, 2009, my dad overdosed on heroin,” says Lipps.

Lipps said while dealing with that tragedy, she searched for ways to cope.

“So by the very next day, Sept. 9, I started using heroin,” Lipp said.

Lipps would eventually spend six years behind bars after being arrested for robbery.

“The thought of coming home and not seeing my family again or not seeing my daughter for six years finally sank in,” she explained.

After being released, Lipps said as a felon, she couldn’t find a job.

So, she stopped by a local coffee shop in Hamilton, The Fringe, owned by Patrick and Sarah Davis.

“I was so scared to tell him like, ‘Hey, I have felonies,’” recalled Lipps. But that was like the requirement to work here.”

Patrick said, “My wife and I have both gone through incarceration, and we kept running into a problem with people that we work with; we do a program inside the prison system. We go into Lebanon Vocational and Dayton correctional, and people continue to get out, and nobody wanted to hire them.”

Now, the two run The Fringe Enterprise.

Lipps started working at their coffee shop and exceeded expectations.

On Thursday, the three stood next to state leaders as they accepted a check for $125,000 to open a women’s drug recovery home in Hamilton.

The home will house six women for at least a year and help them transition back into society.

Patrick and Sarah announced that Lipps will oversee the house’s daily operations.

Lipps says she hopes her journey and insight will save countless women.

“There’s nothing that they can tell me that they did that’s going to shock me or make me look at them any different,” Lipps said, “As you’re standing here looking at me today, I’ve done some things that you wouldn’t believe if I told you. I think my story can help them because I am them.”

The women’s home is expected to open on Jan. 1, 2024.

On Sept. 9, 2023, the team will hold a motorcycle ride fundraiser for the home.

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