FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE) – A Fresno woman is shining a light to help other women discover their own.

This is more than making a good cup of coffee, this is lives being transformed. The Cornerstone Coffee Company on Fulton in downtown Fresno is staffed in part by women touched by The Light House Recovery Center and its founder Vikki Luna.

“God has just placed things in my lap and I just say yes,” Luna says.  She said “yes” to creating the Light House Recovery Center in 2007 after working for Fresno County Juvenile Hall and as a women’s specialist in substance abuse.  

“God just broke my heart for them. What I saw and heard in their stories were the same girls I had in the juvenile institution. They were just now in adult bodies.” Luna says.

Luna saw the hurt and the need to care for these women. Luna convinced her husband to take a loan to buy a house for women now sober to live in and receive faith-based counseling and job skills.  Within a year, the transformations began.

“And they start succeeding and their children are reaping the benefits of a healthy mom.  it’s been worth it,” Luna says.

With donations, The Light House purchased a building in downtown Fresno in 2013 to combine all of its services into one place. It burned to the ground in 2021 when a roofing repair triggered a devastating fire.  Luna and her staff quickly found temporary quarters to continue the vital services.

“One of the ladies reached over and she hugged me and she said, ‘thank you for not leaving us.’ And that has really continued to ring in my mind,” Luna says.

Construction on a new Light House is underway to continue the care inspired by Luna whose passion has not gone unnoticed. Sheryl Root nominated her as a Remarkable Woman.

“I really loved the magnetic personality that she had with serving others and her passionate heart,” says Root.

The women at the Light House learn job skills like making apparel that’s sold to support the program.  They also work in the Light House thrift boutique and at the Cornerstone Coffee Shop. Luna’s passion has had a profound impact on so many lives, but she doesn’t see it that way.

“These women that we help are really the remarkable women,” says Luna.