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A place to call home.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

If Crystal Cameron and her almost 2-year-old toddler, Tyra, weren't giggling and smooching in the cozy living room at Transformation House, they'd probably "be on the streets or in a shelter somewhere that wouldn't seem like a real home," the young mother says.

Instead, they're in a spacious old farmhouse near Cottage Grove with high ceilings, plenty of windows and even a bedroom of their own, sharing the home with two other moms and their children. All of the women have something in common: An escape from domestic violence, a determination not to go back there and the drive to move their lives in a new, positive direction.

Hence the name "transformation," which is exactly what its founder, Christa Loveland, wishes she'd had available to her when she was in the throes of trying to leave a dangerously violent past with her own brood.

"The idea came to me about eight years ago when I was thinking about what would have helped me most when I was a single mother trying to leave domestic violence behind," Loveland said. "There were some kinds of services and support available to help me start over, but there's another step that women need so they won't feel pressured to return to their former situation,...