feature story
A Place to Heal
ON a warm Tuesday night, four
women gather around a dark wooden
dining table for their nightly Bible study.
Plucking jelly beans out of a glass bowl,
they take turns reading the verses aloud.
Liz Lee lays out the welcome mat at Rainbow House, a refuge They stop to reflect upon the words of
Romans 7:21: “For when I want to do
for women who never again thought they’d see the sun good, evil is right there with me.”
“I remember one time when I
relapsed,” shares Liz Lee, leading the dis-
> By Jessica Q. Chen > Photographs by Eric Sueyoshi
cussion. “I was so drunk. I kept telling
myself, ‘I’m tired. I’m tired of doing good.’”
OPPOSITE PAGE: Liz Lee, founder of Rainbow House. THIS PAGE: (clockwise, from top left) Krystina Hearon and her son. •
Tasha Capote and her 2-year-old daughter. • A lunchtime chat.
It’s a struggle they all can identify
with. They are residents of Rainbow
House, a home shelter in Buena Park,
Calif., that offers support for women over-
coming addictions or abuse. Lee, known
to the women as “mom,” founded the
ministry in 2003 as a healing ground for
those with dark pasts.
Though their stories differ, the battle
of the “old self” is one those who come to
Rainbow House fight daily. Some are sin-
gle mothers who were once dependent
on drugs and alcohol. Others carry his-
tories of rape or incest. Many had
already attempted the Alcoholics
Anonymous route, not to mention stints
in and out of rehab, with no success. For
these women, developing alternative,
healthy ways to cope with their pain is
the road less taken.
The house has a quaint, country-style
crosshatch window and a small play-
ground in the front yard. Inside, inspira-
tional words like “Hope” and “Dream” deck
the colorful walls of the six bedrooms.
42 07/09
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Lee’s curriculum includes 12-step
meetings, parenting classes and individ-
ual counseling. After six months, the
women go to work or back to school. “They
don’t have a chance to be lonely here,”
Lee says. “It’s a big part of staying sober.”
In addition to Bible studies, the
women keep a strict 9 p.m. curfew. There
is no smoking, drinking or gossiping
allowed.
Krystina Hearon, 32, who arrived at
the house last year, started using drugs
when she was 12. At 16, she was violent-
ly gang raped. In living at the house,
Hearon admits she feels like a child
again. “I’m relearning how to do every-
thing,” she says. To this, she adds, “I don’t
struggle with my addiction anymore.
Now that I’m more confident, I find I
don’t need those things.”
Tasha Capote, a 20-year-old who left
an abusive relationship a year ago, says
that for the first time, she feels like she
has a real home. Lee keeps the living
room shelves stocked with Bible
07/09 43
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Rainbow House provides a safe, family-like environment for its residents. As part of the program, residents perform domestic tasks, which helps them ease into everyday life.
“They don’t have a chance to be lonely here. It’s a big part of staying sober.”
Collection DVDs and a refrigerator full of
Lee’s home-cooked meals and Korean
barbecue, Capote has her most basic
physical and spiritual needs met. “My kid
really likes it here,” Capote says of her 2-
year-old daughter. “We sit down and eat
dinner everyday. It’s more like family.”
When asked about her success sto-
ries, Lee replies, “You’re looking at one,”
with a smile.
Lee emigrated from Korea in 1971 to
attend Oregon State University. There,
she met a Korean boy, fell in love and
became pregnant. When her friends
decided to take a trip to Las Vegas, Lee
went along for the ride with her 4-month-
old daughter.
Though her classmates headed
back, Lee stayed behind to work as a
casino dealer. But what started as a 20-
year-old’s playground soon became a
cage of intoxication. “The loneliness and
the lifestyle of Las Vegas just consumed
me,” she says.
Lee stayed in Sin City for 15 years,
working her way up become an inter-
national marketing director. When Lee’s
daughter moved to Los Angeles for col-
lege, Lee slipped into a deep depression.
Though she had everything she thought
she wanted—a big house, lots of money
and undeniable power—she had also
suffered three broken marriages and
was unable to function without drugs.
44 07/09
At nearly 40, Lee took a trip to Los
Angeles. “My plan was to see my daugh-
ter, then go to Guam, burn my passport
and kill myself.” Fortunately, Lee’s
daughter called a Christian rehabilita-
tion center just in time. When a social
worker showed up, Lee weighed less
than 100 pounds.
“I saw so much peace in her eyes,
which I’d never seen before,” says Lee of
the social worker. “I told myself if I could
find some of that peace, I would follow
her.” Over time, Lee fought her addiction
to cocaine and alcohol, and restarted
her life.
Wanting to be far away from Vegas,
she moved to upstate New York, where
she began to study the Bible and volun-
teer at a women’s prison. There, she dis-
covered her ability to connect with the
women living in the physical and figu-
rative jail cells of isolation and despair.
She decided to put this skill to good use.
She came back to California and started
Rainbow House.
Today, the house has become an
oasis for those thirsty for stability and sol-
idarity. As the owner and director, Lee
works at the house full-time, paying rent
through donations and partnerships
with different churches and organiza-
tions. Since its origins, Lee has seen more
than 200 families come through its doors
with only one known case of relapse.
—Liz Lee
Whether their stays last one month or a
couple years, the graduates often come
back to celebrate the holidays.
Thanksgiving is observed with four or
five turkeys. During Christmastime, pre-
sents reach the ceiling.
No matter what issues surface, Lee’s
door is always open.
“Understanding someone is a power-
ful thing,” Lee says. “All people have
inner goodness. You just have to go
beyond what you see and hear and
bring it out.”
There at the dining table, Lee picks
up the Bible, thumbing delicately
through the thin pages. “No matter how
many times I’ve failed, I know I still have
God, and I have to take up my cross
daily,” she says, alluding to a verse in
the book of Luke that asks believers to
sacrifice their former lives, just as Jesus
gave his life on the cross. The night ends
with prayer.
Lee presses on despite health chal-
lenges. After beating colon cancer a few
years ago—a fight that required two surg-
eries and six months of chemo—she says
she’ll continue with Rainbow House until
she feels it’s time to pass on the ministry.
For Hearon, Lee’s gentle nature is
slowly, but surely changing her life. “By
the time she’s done with me, I’m gonna
be a wholehearted Christian,” Heron
says. “And I’m gonna be OK.”