Open Arms Village to expand, open women’s sober living home


The program will be a second site of Open Arms Village but will house women only. Plans to renovate the facility are already underway. Rev. Jill Beck will be the Director of the women’s program and lead pastor of the new church. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

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Posted January 24, 2025 | By Caroline Brauchler
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Ocala is getting a new sober living house for women, as Open Arms Village’s zoning is approved to open a campus at the Compassion United Methodist Church.

On Jan. 21, the Ocala City Council approved the church’s zoning application to house an expansion of Open Arms Village with a vote of 3-1.

The church’s Sunday School building will be renovated to add 16 beds, a kitchen, bathroom and shower areas, and a sanctuary for women’s rehabilitation. UMC’s pastors, Michael and Jill Beck, will aid in the spiritual wellness of the women seeking treatment at Open Arms.

“We believe we can save lives with this,” said Michael Beck. “For us, that is the ministry and the mission of the church—services to really help people and do those things Jesus told us to do.”

Open Arms Village has its main location at 1839 NE 8th Road in Ocala, which serves men in Marion County by extending time spent sober, improving psychiatric symptoms and reducing the likeliness of future costs to the hospitals and legal system, according to Open Arms.

The shelter is high barrier, with only about one in seven applicants being accepted to the program, said Open Arms Board Chair Mark Imes to the city council at the zoning public hearing.

“We’ve had over 475 men through this program. 76% have graduated sober with the job paying for their own housing,” Imes said. “We do a sex offenders registry check to ensure that the men are not on there. We also drug test them and alcohol test them coming in, and then there’s random drug testing while they’re there.”

Some citizens, including the principal of a nearby school, expressed opposition to the location of the new women’s shelter, citing concerns for the nearby residential areas.

At the site, case manager Dennis Grundy and substance abuse mental health counselor Davieoyn

Hopson run rehabilitation efforts, including group therapy, counseling, job placement, addiction treatment, in addition to providing food, clothing and shelter

“The whole idea is that while the men are there, they are able to save up money so that they have a firm foundation under themselves, and they can move into that next step in their recovery with a level of financial stability where they don’t have to necessarily go back to things that have gotten them in trouble in the past,” Imes said.

The expansion at UMC will allow women to have the same resource of the program available to them, given they have a true desire and drive to get sober, he said.

At UMC, Jill Beck will take point on leading the program and aiding the participants in spirituality and wellness, her husband said.

“My wife is going to be the director on this one. I’ll be more her supporter, to help her and encourage her,” Beck said. “I’m in a pastoral role, but Jill will be the director of the women’s program, so she’ll oversee the day-to-day operations, and the team will be providing services.”

The buildout for the shelter is anticipated to take from three to six months, at a cost of about $600,000.

Open Arms Village will be hiring additional staff to accommodate the expansion, including a female substance abuse and mental health counselor.

“Thank you to all those people in the Ocala community at large for seeing this and wanting to be a better place,” Beck said.

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