Thirty years ago, Loretto Sister Therese O’ Sullivan didn’t have any idea that she would still be living at and running the St. Martin de Porres House of Hope in 2013, at the age of 74.

When she and Loretto Sister Connite Driscoll started the shelter in 1983, that’s all it was: a shelter for women who needed a place to stay with their children. Sister Therese had already been in the Woodlawn neighborhood for 17 years, teaching at nearby St. Cyril school, and had seen an upheaval in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Over the years, the House of Hope has changed its mission, becoming a recovery home for women struggling to overcome substance abuse addiction. The women can still have their children with them — girls of all ages and boys through age 12 — and they are expected to stay at least a year, working through the 12-step program, getting counseling and becoming a responsible part of a community.

There is room for 35 women and their children, although these days, more of the women seem to be grandmothers, said Sister Therese.

“The women who are coming to us seem to be older,” she said, “and they’re just tired. They want to change. We have more people who don’t just have substance abuse problems; they have multiple issues.”

Women who come to the House of Hope must be referred from somewhere: a hospital or treatment center where they went through detox, or sometimes from former residents. Some are on their second time through, having done well for years before a personal crisis or just the grind of everyday life brings them back to old habits.

In the house, they live a structured life, rising at 6 a.m. and in bed by 10:30 p.m. They have 12- step meetings, substance abuse counseling, grief counseling and anger management classes, support groups, exercise and arts classes, GED classes and chores to keep the house running.

A choir performs outside of the house two or three times a month. Residents can get passes to leave the house for only 3½ hours each day.

“When we started, we had simple rules,” Sister Therese said. “Now we have many rules, that are followed with consequences.”

Experience, she said, has taught her that the women who come to St. Martin need clear guidelines about how to live with structure and within a community.

Demetress Washington said that was certainly the case for her. She had left a home and family to live on the streets to pursue her drug addiction before she ended up in detox, and was offered placements at both St. Martin de Porres and another recovery center, where residents are allowed to leave for the entire day. Her first impulse was for the center with more freedom, but then she changed her mind.

“I said, ‘I think I should go and let the nuns do what they do,’” she said, never expecting to be greeted by a diminutive, white-haired woman in sneakers and slacks.

When she walked into the vestibule and saw an image of the Virgin and Child, she said, “I said, ‘Oh my God, I have arrived.’”

All of the group meetings have helped her come to terms with what she is feeling, and she now has her 8- and 5-year-old sons with her during the week. They spend weekends with her ex-husband.

She has learned, she said, how to go out, do what she needs to do, and come back when expected.

“Before, I couldn’t go to the store for somebody,” she said. “I’d take their money and be gone for two days.”

The women she lives with have become a foster family — a new experience for Washington, who said she didn’t have many women friends before.

“We have our good days and our bad days and we understand each other,” said Washington, whose jobs in the home include rising early every day to help the cook, and preparing weekend meals.

Bertha Parker knew just what she was getting into when she came to St. Martin de Porres House of Hope; she was there about 10 years ago, she said. She still had an apartment and a job when she started using again — and realized she couldn’t stop on her own.

She called Sister Therese and, four months after she and her teenage daughter moved in, she has confidence that this time she is getting to the bottom of the issues that led to her substance abuse.

“This has taught me to be a mother,” said Parker, one of 14 children in her family. She was made responsible for cooking and cleaning as a child, and was the victim of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of older relatives. Those experiences took their toll. Now, she said, “each day is a day, and a day is what you make out of it. I never knew that people could love me for me.” Loving each other — and showing that love to one another — is one of the most important lessons the women at St. Martin de Porres House of Hope learn, Parker and Washington said, and it starts with Sister Therese.

“How many people would let you come and live in their home, and not ask for anything except getting your life together?” Washington said. “She tells us, ‘I believe in you until you believe in yourself.’”

Once the women believe in themselves, Sister Therese and the staff and volunteers work to help make them self-sufficient. One sister, Sister Therese said, comes in to work with each of the residents to establish a monthly budget, no matter how meager their resources.

“They might only have $50 a month, but they plan what do with it,” Sister Therese said. “They get to manage their own life. We want to teach them responsibility, so they can move on with their life. They’re always going to have an addiction.”

Once they are ready, the women participate in Cara, a job-readiness and job placement program offers by Old St. Patrick’s Parish. Those who have convictions participate in Cleanslate, which provides paid transitional employment.

While St. Martin de Porres House of Hope has been blessed with volunteer help and in-kind donations, the biggest need is always cash.

The shelter is housed in the former St. Clara School, 6423 S. Woodlawn Ave., built in the mid- 1920s, and maintenance can be expensive. Last year, repairs to the roof created a $130,000 hole in the budget.