Help Us Preserve the Safety and Integrity of Our Neighborhood.

I’ve lived here in Mount Laurel for over 20 years. I’ve raised my kids here. I know what makes this community strong — and it isn’t fear. It’s compassion. It’s looking out for one another.

That’s why I bought a house on Lancelot Lane — not to disrupt our peace, but to deepen it. To create Betty’s House of Healing: a quiet, safe home where veterans and frontline responders can heal from wounds you can’t see, but that shape their lives forever.

My husband didn’t die in Iraq, but he never really came home. The war followed him — in the form of pain, isolation, and addiction. We lost him here. In a community like ours. His story is why this home matters. It’s personal. It’s sacred.

But now, some neighbors are calling this a “facility.” Saying it’s “high-risk.” They’ve started a petition to keep these heroes out.

I need to speak the truth:

Real safety isn’t a gate or a lock. It’s knowing your neighbors have your back. Who better to have on our street than those trained to protect, serve, and defend? The same people who ran toward danger for complete strangers?

Calling them a risk isn’t just wrong — it’s a betrayal. It echoes an old, painful refrain: “Not here.” A sentiment Mount Laurel knows all too well.

This isn’t a facility. It’s a home. A home for angels, as Hebrews 13:2 reminds us — though we may not recognize them. They are the veteran who fought for our freedom. The nurse who worked through the night. The cop who bears the weight of what they’ve seen.

We will not be judged one day on how high our fences were, but on how wide we opened our doors.

This home will be quiet. It will be safe. My children live here too. It will be filled with respect, prayer, and love — because that’s what these heroes deserve.

I’m not asking you to choose between safety and compassion. I’m asking you to see that true safety includes compassion.

Please, stand with me. Sign this petition. Help me show what Mount Laurel really stands for — a community that doesn’t just thank heroes, but welcomes them home.

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Sign & Share Here:  https://chng.it/VTfWdRPSNG

This is God’s work. Calling them a risk isn’t just wrong — it’s a betrayal. And if that sentiment—"not here"—sounds familiar, it should. Our town’s very name is synonymous with the fight against exclusionary practices. While the context is different, the impulse to decide who belongs and who doesn’t should give us all pause. We must be better than that history, not repeat it. your signature can help carry it forward. Please sign and share, then share some more!....With gratitude, Founder of Betty's House of Healing.