Meet Andrea Tabor | Executive Director–Twelfth Step Ministry

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrea Tabor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrea, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
My family is originally from El Paso, Texas When I turned 16 years old we moved to a small community on the border of Texas and New Mexico called Chaparral, N.M. As a young child some of my fondest memories are of my mother, brother and I selecting a family to support from a local radio station. We did this each year around Christmas time but there were other times during the year that my mom would gather us up to deliver much needed items to a local family in need. We as a family did not have much as my mom was a single parent working sometimes 3 jobs at a time, running her own business and raising two children of her own, and I really never felt that we did not have what we needed. Little did I know that God used my mother to plant a seed in my heart to help others. I have always been a bit adventurous so once I graduated from high school I moved to Riverside, California to find something more fast paced. I enrolled in college with the idea that I would become a lawyer because lawyers help people right? As I was taking classes and getting more exposure to what a lawyer really does, I recognized that becoming a lawyer was something that I no longer wanted to do so I moved back to Chaparral to help my mother and father run their own restaurant. Even though we were in a small community of approximately 20,000 we as a family were always helping our neighbors in need. Whether it was helping with clothes for a family whose house burnt down, raising money to help with funeral expenses or just helping with groceries, we were a family that did what we could to help and I loved that. I felt it was meaningful and purposeful. After a few years helping to run the family restaurant, the time had come to close our sweet community restaurant and it was then I transitioned to a career in Hospitality Management. I spent the next 10 years moving from one restaurant to another still looking for what my purpose was in life. As years went on I had two children, got married and just began to find where I thought I fit. Hospitality. My husband who also had a career in Hospitality Management got an opportunity to transfer to Garland, Texas so in 1997 we moved to the Big D. This was a huge culture shock for our family but also a welcomed break for me to take time to decide who I wanted to be when I grew up. For the next 3 years I volunteered and my girls schools and supported my kiddos in every extracurricular activities that girls can be part of and volunteered all of my time to them. As we got settled in our new life, I began to look for a job…For the next few years I continued with my career in hospitality, catering to private jets…Boy was that exciting! As I married my new position I found that I was truly missing something. I was not giving my time to help others and I truly missed that. After 5 years of that and many changes I decided to leave the hospitality industry for good. I began volunteering at church, participating in meal trains, help others where I could and even helped cook hundreds of meals for Hurricane Katrina families and volunteering at North Collin County Habitat for Humanity. I loved it! Helping others seemed to be my purpose. During my volunteering at North Collin County Habitat for Humanity, I was offered a position as the volunteer coordinator. The job did not have a pace that I was accustomed to but I decided that I loved building things so maybe I would enjoy working there as well. Little did I know that all of my years in the Hospitality field was preparing me for what was needed at Habitat. As the Senior Director of North Collin County Habitat for Humanity, I was able to use my experiences to help double the size of North Collin County Habitat for Humanity and helped to build a million Dollar ReStore. Although I loved Habitat and everyone and every way they serve their community it was time for me to find my next opportunity. In 2015 I found Twelfth Step Ministry. All thru my life I have always known that God had a plan for me and each time there was a change I believe that was the plan in play but this felt different. To me that was confirmation from God that it was time to change where I was and take on a new opportunity and I love my place here at Twelfth Step Ministry. I am serving my community in a way that I am not able to measure but my faith is truly what keeps me going today. I believe it was all because my sweet mother planted the seed of helping others early in my life and I credit her for my servant heart.

Despite a solid upbringing, I was exposed to a great deal of addiction, both inside and outside my family. Over the years, I’ve developed a strong desire to eliminate the stigma of mental illness and help spread the message that addiction is a medical issue not a moral failure. My faith has helped me see the importance of helping others, and that’s what I try to do on a daily basis by sharing my experience, strength and hope to as many people as I can. Addiction is universal–practically everyone in America has a relative, friend or acquaintance dealing with some form of substance or behavioral addiction.
Working at Twelfth Step Ministry helps me to be my best self. I love our mission: to provide hope, help, and support in a safe, inclusive environment to the recovery community of North Texas.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I love working in the nonprofit sector. Before taking on the role of Executive Director at Twelfth Step Ministry, I was the Senior Director of Operations for Habitat for Humanity of North Collin County. Giving back to the community and my North Texas neighbors is my passion. l started my career in HR, so I have always had a position where I’m directly linked to those around me. Nonprofit work is not easy! The needs are many, sometimes outweighing the available resources, but I’ve become good at maximizing the gifts that are generously given to us and that I am very proud of. I get excited when we get the work done while being responsible with every dollar given to our organization. That is truly what I am most proud of. It’s also a challenge for me to disconnect. We are a growing organization with a tiny staff–it’s just me and a part-time assistant. There is always so much work to be done and not enough time in the day! I have learned an important lesson: I must force myself to take time for myself. Burnout is real, especially in a field where our clients are hurting and need a lot of emotional support. The old airline safety instructions that tell us to put on our oxygen masks first before we help others definitely applies here! Having many that depend and rely on our services can also feel overwhelming but thru my personal program I work hard to remember that we are here to serve one at a time and to be present for those right in front of us. The Twelfth Step Ministry hosts over 40 Twelve-Step meetings for 16 different areas of substance and behavior addictions each week. Some of the organizations we support include Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Internet & Technology Addicts Anonymous, Codependents Anonymous, and Debtors Anonymous to name a few. Adult men and women participating in these meetings make more than 1,500 visits to our Center each month. Currently, the most exciting thing about my job is that we have launched a capital campaign to replace our 88-year old building. We have been in the planning stage for 6 years. The new building will house more meetings and serve more people. It will give us the opportunity to transform more lives!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place I would take my friend would be the Ft. Worth Stockyards. First would be to the Rodeo and maybe a concert at Billy Bob’s. Line dancing for sure. We would also do a Sailboat ride on Lake Ray Hubbard at sunset and definitely Dinner and fireworks cruise on Lake Texoma. We would eat at little dives that serve authentic Mexican food and have some fun at six flags. We would have a great breakfast at Ballards Café in Wylie, TX have a great meal at Spoons Café in McKinney and dress up and eat at Nick and Sam’s then off to Reunion Tower for a view of the City. We would end the visit with a robust Rummy card game, sleeping in, having coffee together in our jammies and end with homemade tacos and enchiladas.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate my Shout Out to my mother. She modeled what a relationship with God looks like, what giving to others is really about and she has truly supported me in all that I have done.

Website: www.TwelfthStepMinistry.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twelfthstepministry.org