When Jimmy and LeEllen Smith built their home in Troy in 1989, they expected to raise their children there. They didn’t know they would one day raise an entire community.

Jimmy, a general sessions judge, and LeEllen, who founded OUTsideIN in 2013 to create jobs for
marginalized women, saw a need and had an idea. What if the house that provided their family with shelter and safety could give women a place of hope and healing?

The seed for The OUTsideINN was planted, and the couple committed their home to a greater purpose. On May 29, they gathered with friends, supporters and local officials to cut the ribbon on the residential recovery program.

“This is a labor of love that’s been worth every penny and every ounce of sweat,” Jimmy said.

The couple renovated the two-story house to create space for six women and up to 12 children. Their living spaces include common rooms, a multipurpose room, a dining room and both a full and a mini kitchen. Women learn to sew in a workroom in the bunkhouse, where the house manager lives on-site.

LeEllen was inspired by the first sober living home she visited two decades ago: Angel House in the Shawtown community near Troy, started by Marti Doss, a retired teacher.

“Ms. Marti’s facilities were basic, and her resources were meager,” LeEllen recalled. “She made up for that with the passion that she had for helping women overcome their struggles with addiction.”

LeEllen dedicated the May 29 celebration to Doss’s memory.

The OUTside INN receives state funding and is supported by private donations. It expands on the Angel House model by providing trauma-informed care to women and their children.

Neru Gobin, assistant commissioner with the Tennessee Division of Children and Youth Mental Health Services, said keeping families together leads to better outcomes for everyone.

“We are making — and you are making — a generational impact,” he said. “The children are going to benefit from this.”

The program focuses on the child’s healing as much as the mother’s, helping break the cycles of separation, instability and generational trauma. Women receive personalized coaching, access to medical, clinical and educational resources, and employment-readiness training. All services are offered free of charge.

With the focus on children, it was appropriate that LeEllen read from the children’s book, “What Do You Do with an Idea?” before cutting the ribbon. Giving her idea attention and sharing it with others encouraged her to dream even bigger.

“That’s how you change the world or at least a little part of West Tennessee,” she said.

To learn more about the recovery program or social enterprise, visit theoutsideinn.org or outsideinworks.com.

Gibson Electric has supported The OUTside INN with a matching CoBank Sharing Success grant.