By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – In October, Cindy Hildebrand opened a transitional living facility, which has been on her heart for several years.

My Sister’s Place, Inc. is a transitional living home for women who are “down on their luck and need a change in their lives,” Hildebrand said. The house, which is located in Montevallo, currently serves as the residence for two women and a “house mom.” The three-bedroom unit can hold up to four women in addition to the house mom.

Women who live in My Sister’s Place must commit to the program for at least 90 days, as “you can’t make much change in less time than that,” Hildebrand said.

The women are required to attend church at Christian Life Fellowship in Calera with their housemates.

“We don’t want to just house them, we want to help them,” Hildebrand said.

“We want to help them get back on their feet and help them live a different way,” Hildebrand said of the women. “It’s about forming relationships and loving them so they can love themselves.”

While living in the house, the women devise a plan to better their futures, including debt management.

My Sister’s Place is the only place like this in Shelby County, she said. Through her relationships with people in the Shelby County Drug Court and Shelby Emergency, Hildebrand has been able to spread news about the facility.

“All I’ve got is personal experience. I worked at an assisted living facility for 10 years and made good money. I had a nice house in Chelsea and three kids,” she said. “No one took it from me; I gave it away.”

“I understand the absolute despair and being completely alone,” she added.

To live in the house, Hildebrand said the women must be sober for at least three days before moving into the house, able to work and 18-years-old or older. Also, the women must be healthy, as medication in the house could be abused.

“It’s Christian women living here that have traveled the same or similar paths,” she said. “There’s a commonality.

“I believe this is something God has ordained,” she said. “It has come together too easy for it not to be. It’s for such a time as this.”

For more information about My Sister’s Place, contact Hildebrand at 434-0701 or email mysistersplaceinc@yahoo.com.