Welcome! We enthusiastically applaud your interest. Or maybe it's simply curiosity.
Who are these people anyway? And why should I give...or even care? Good questions. We are just like you in so many ways – surrounded by crisis. I have worked as an RN for 29 years and I've seen a lot. Maybe your life has been touched by someone who has been addicted to drugs or alcohol. You've watched the cycle of rehab after rehab – maybe hospitalizations. They get put on meds; they get out. But before you know it they are back using, on the street, perhaps homeless – or back in jail. Sometimes you are relieved when they are locked up because at least you know where they are and it's maybe safer there than on the streets. Much harder still, maybe you have lost someone dear to you. If so, our hearts sincerely go out to you. In so many ways our hearts have been broken watching the wave of addiction destroy lives. So we said, "Let's do something!" People ask me why I go down to the local jail every week to sit around a classroom with a bunch of inmates.And this is what I tell them: "I know what it's like to feel hopeless, and to feel like everyone else wants to quit on you too. I remember feeling like society's cast-away. I was an alcoholic, out of control – junk, gutter trash that could never amount to anything. Then one day I had an encounter that changed my life. I met Jesus Christ. It was as if this huge chain was snapped in two, effortlessly. What all of the years of therapy and meds failed to do was fixed in an instant. I was set free. God had a lot of work to do on me but as I surrendered my life into His loving hands, He patiently began a work that still continues to this day. Jesus is hope! He is the answer for every need." Sometimes they stare at me, blinking, like maybe you are now, reading this. But I also see a spark, a little gleam of hope. I have not only been clean and sober for 32 years, I have been free from the desire. That alcoholic is dead! A new life was given. The saddest thing I see at this jail is women who keep coming back, or that make the obituaries. They are captive on the inside as well as the outside. But God is there, drawing them and we have seen women changed, women who sincerely seek a new life. Their faith is frail – they need support, especially upon release. We also currently run a ministry to the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center in Plymouth. These men are "sectioned" or locked up to withdraw because someone who loves them believes they are in desperate need. They don't want to read about them in the newspaper or get the call they dread. The saving and redemptive power of Jesus Christ is changing lives there also. But again – who will be there to help their new faith when they are released? Jobs, a Christ-centered "sober" home, a GED – the dignity that every human deserves. Can you share this vision with us? Can you join us in prayer, in finances, in commitment to be a part of what God is doing in these precious lives? We know what God can do. But He needs laborers and resources. Even the smallest offering helps move us towards the vision. Thanks for stopping by! And please stop by again – you will be amazed by all that God can do with a willing heart and helping hands. Our vision is big because our God is bigger!
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