JUST IN: Both A Ribbon-Cutting And A Groundbreaking Took Place Thanks To Mother Nature Behaving

There are times … very few times … when Mother Nature is a good old gal, and today was one of those rarities for a couple of North Texas non-profits.

With clear skies and temperatures just barely touching the 80s, school kids were in high spirits, closing their lockers for the spring break ahead. But they weren’t the only ones celebrating.

Ironically, one group was holding an outdoor ribbon-cutting for a project that had been 10 years-in-the-making with a standing-room-only crowd. In the meantime, another event was taking place for a groundbreaking of seven folks with hard hats on heads and shovels in hand.

The ribbon-cutting was for what had been described as “the best-kept secret in North Texas addiction recovery” — 12th Step Ministry’s new 8,100-square-foot Phillips Family Center for Spiritual Development on West Northwest Highway, complete with “meeting rooms, common areas, intimate space and a serenity garden, all designed to foster community and healing.”

Hosting 45 recovery meetings each week for 17 different substance and behavioral addiction groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Adult Children of Alcoholics And Dysfunctional Families and others, Executive Director Andrea Tabor gleefully and rightly announced that thanks to fundraising advisers Sandra Estess and Judy Gibbs, who had raised $12M for the project and countless others, the long-term project was opening debt-free.

According to Board Vice Chair Darden McFarlin, “We are truly grateful for the support shown to this project. From a $1.5 million challenge gift from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation, to grants from the Hillcrest Foundation, the Meadows Foundation, the Doswell Foundation and the Hoblitzelle Foundation, to the two-dollar donations from meeting participants, we are humbled by the people who understand the importance of addiction recovery in our community. Additionally, we extend special appreciation to Daniel Chamberlain of FBT Architects for his beautiful design, to KDC Real Estate Development And Investments Executive Chair Steve Van Amburgh for his construction counsel, and to Hill and Wilkinson General Contractors for their extraordinary work.“

In addressing the group, Steve, whose company had also been part of the development of the Dallas 24 Hour Club, told a touching story of his father, who’d been an alcoholic, and read a statement: “Because this is the way I view this facility — and it’s also referred to as the KDC way — “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, and all the ways you can, and all the places you can, all the times you can to all the people you can, as long as you even can.”

As the blue ribbon in front of the door was being snipped for the official grand opening of 12^th Step Ministry’s new home, across town at the Dallas Arboretum, parking was at the merest minimum, with families with strollers and gorgeous gals in gown posing for photos. No surprise, since the grounds were royally celebrating Dallas Blooms with tulips stretching their stems to the sunlight.

But in a shady area of the 3-acre A Woman’s Garden, a new beginning was underway to develop even more of this sanctuary. No flowers were on site, just hilly terrain with White Rock serving as a backdrop for the groundbreaking of “a new vision for the garden room known as Pecan Parterre.”

But still, Women’s Council President Therese Rourke, Development VP Linda Spina and Dallas Arboretum President/CEO Sabina Carr were donning hard hats with shovels in hand to start work on the newest development for the garden.

Thanks to landscape architect Warren Hill Johnson, “the Women’s Council, and Dallas Arboretum Principal Gift Officer/horticulturist Dave Forehand, a walkway extending from the upper level of the garden to the perimeter path at the lower level” that will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act “will have direct access to The Poetry Garden and The Flowering Vitex Allee, making an easy, connected stroll through the three most newly renovated garden areas in A Woman’s Garden.”

The plan is that come the end of 2025, there will also be a “new pavestone circular patio along the perimeter path that can be used for an entertainment space in addition to [being] a functional turnaround spot for service vehicles.”

The timing couldn’t be better, with spring break breaking and rain clouds showering Saturday morning.