By Michele Hardman
Often, positive things end up happening when someone decides to turn their pain and tragedy into a way to help others. This is exactly what Cathy Coots McClellan did when her son lost his life to fentanyl poisoning. With the help and encouragement of Senator Greg Evers, who was a good family friend, Cathy founded a non-profit faith-based organization in memory of her son called The Evers House. It’s a recovery house—actually two houses—one for women and the other for men, offering 22 total beds. This 12-month program is designed to address mental health, case management, legal aspects, and health care. During their stay there, participants get their lives cleaned up, get jobs, and their own place to live. Fifteen years ago, Bay County had hardly any options for this type of resource. Thankfully, now we have The Evers House. Cathy and her team are occasionally called upon to do interventions for people when friends and family don’t know what else to do. In addition, they’ve also become Narcan distributors here in Bay County. You might have seen the blue kiosks around town that get refilled once a month. After four years, the need for Narcan continues to rise. The demand is up considerably, even from last year. So far in 2026, they’ve given out 7,500 boxes, and there are still a couple of months to go. The Evers House continues to work with and train our local law enforcement and troops at Tyndall Air Force Base on understanding and administering Narcan properly. Cathy’s organization is partially funded through grants and a few of the area’s agencies, but she always appreciates any donations from businesses and individuals who are willing. “Helping people is just what we do… what we enjoy,” says Cathy. Be watching for next year’s Walk For Life annual fundraiser and get involved. Find out more at www.evershouse.com.
As if running a non-profit doesn’t keep her busy enough, she’s also been in real estate for 25 years, and she and her husband each have their own construction-related companies. Even after 20-plus years of being a successful builder, Cathy says she still regularly deals with the challenges of being a woman in what is typically a man’s industry. Her biggest frustration is that nearly every decision she makes gets second-guessed. She’s not alone. A large majority of the other women she knows who work in construction say they face the same issues. Cathy loves what she does, though, so she’s not letting any of this stop her. Her own home got severely damaged in Hurricane Michael. It’s taken a long time to get things taken care of and she and her family have been temporarily living in another location ever since. They’re hoping to finally be able to start rebuilding their house very soon and get their lives back in order. This will also enable them to get back to spending more time fishing, hunting, and enjoying nature; they’re eager to have a little more time to relax and help keep the daily stressors in life more manageable. She has five kids and 10 grandkids who all live nearby. They have a close relationship and spend quite a bit of time together, supporting each other’s activities and just hanging out. Cathy says she also loves to eat, and really enjoys getting out and about and trying new restaurants. The smaller, locally owned mom-and-pop type places are her first choices. And she agrees that many of the best places tend to be the little hole-in-the-wall joints that don’t look like much on the outside, but have some of the best food around. A perfect example of that age-old saying: “Looks can be deceiving.” What’s her favorite type of food? All the fresh local seafood that we’re so blessed to have here on the Gulf Coast. Mine too.
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