history
Founders
Serenity Recovery Network (SRN) was born in October of 2009, when two premier sober living facilities joined forces. Serenity House, founded in July of 2005 by Ivan Faske and Fred Fago, merged with House of Freedom and Miracles, founded by Angie Edwards in 2004. Both Ivan and Angie believed that the key to long term sobriety began with raising recovering addicts and alcoholics self-esteem and self-worth. Along with an abstinence-based program based upon spiritual principles and 12 step based programs of recovery, SRN assists residents in finding a lifelong recovery program of their choice, impacting and improving their lives beyond solely achieving abstinence.
success
For over 18 years, Serenity Recovery Network has served over 1411 men and women seeking recovery. Today, Serenity Recovery Network exists as a private non-profit organization funded primarily by grants, contributions, and fundraisers. We operate 2 sober living homes and 4 Independent Living apartments in Price Hill. We are also in the process of renovating 5 additional apartments for our independent living program. Our program is unique in approaching sobriety by:
Focusing on total abstinence as the model of sobriety, as outlined by 12-step-based recovery programs.
Building toward attaining lifelong sobriety and recovery.
Sheltering those new to our program, giving them a chance to regain their balance and focus solely on their recovery.
Including the Family in the recovery process, working toward family reunification.
Preparing individuals to gain the skills necessary to re-enter their communities as productive members
SRN is served by an involved, multi-faceted volunteer Advisory Board of Directors. We employ an Executive Director and 2 House Managers for Serenity House for Men and Angie’s House of Freedom and Miracles for Women. Our Executive Director also focuses on SRN’s involvement in our community and works on identifying grant and funding opportunities.
We believe that recovering addicts and alcoholics can regain their innate abilities to:
Regain their sense of self-worth and dignity as human beings
Develop rewarding and meaningful relationships with others
Become responsible and be accountable for their behavior
Earn the ability to make healthy decisions for themselves and their families
Become responsible, contributing members of their communities
In March of 2023, SRN purchased the empty lot next to Angie’s House of Freedom and Miracles on Warsaw Avenue. Later that fall, we purchased the building adjacent to the lot. The purchase of these properties will increase parking in the short term, and we plan future development of the site to increase our ability to serve addicts and alcoholics seeking recovery.
goals
history
House of Freedom and Miracles (HFM)
HFM was founded by Angie Edwards and opened its doors on June 1, 2004, in the community of Northside. At that time, it housed eight women. In 2006 HFM moved to the Price Hill area to a rented three family home on Rosemont Avenue in West Price Hill, now housing 10 women. This home offered 10 beds exclusively for women and had three separate kitchens and dining rooms. Angie was working a full-time job while serving as Director of HFM, utilizing her own income to help support the continuation of her dream of operating a woman's recovery home. She was living in one of the apartments in the house and paying her own rent and utilities plus the expenses of operating HFM.
In the early part of 2009, Angie began collaborating with her brotherhood house, Serenity House (a division of Serenity Consultants), on like goals and programs to grow and better service the House of Freedom and Miracles (HFM) family. This collaboration was a blessing that brought HFM under the Serenity Consultants umbrella. This helped strengthen and guide the program’s improvements, find new opportunities and avenues of support and extend its outreach.
Serenity House
Ivan Faske and Fred Fago collaboratively founded Serenity Consultants Inc. in March of 2006 and, less than three months later, officially opened Serenity House. In Ivan’s words their vision was of “a faith-based program, but not religious in any way. We’re faith-based in that we believe in a higher power and each person finding his own connection to that. We are totally in the grip of a destructive force that is more powerful than we are. The only thing I’m aware of that is more powerful than this disease is the belief in a power greater than ourselves that can restore us to sanity.” To provide this structure they opened Serenity House, a residential recovery program located in a 3,525 square-foot house in West Price Hill. Serenity House was composed of 10 bedrooms (six double rooms and four singles), a shared kitchen and dining room and housed a total of 16 men. In 2009 they began collaborating with Angie Edwards, Executive Director of House of Freedom and Miracles. Ms. Angie said that “there are some minor differences in the programs, but they’re structured the same,” and so Faske, Fago and Edwards joined forces, doing business as Serenity Recovery Network, a private a profit organization funded primarily by grants contributions and fundraisers.
Houses Together and Beyond: Serenity Recovery Network
In October of 2009, Serenity House, founded by Ivan Faske and Fred Fago, merged with House of Freedom and Miracles, founded by Angie Edwards. Today the organization known as Serenity Recovery Network operates 2 sober living homes and 4 Independent Living apartments in Price Hill. Served by an involved multi-faceted volunteer Advisory Board of Directors, SRN employs an Executive Director, overseeing the two-House Managers, one for each program (SH for Men and AHFM for Women), while focusing on community involvement, grants and other funding opportunities.
Kate H., alumni