March 2010 Update
Just because you haven’t heard from us doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. Where to begin?
Josie Pijpaert dropped from heaven to offer her many faceted gifts, experience and expertise as a many-hour-a-week volunteer. She is helping with the Cabaret, program development, grants—and making sense of Joy’s abstract/random mind. We don’t know how long she’ll be in Rochester but she’s providing a great leap forward for us.
Grants: Two small but very helpful grants have been received from the American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee region from the America for Christ Offering and the Genesee Valley Presbytery Ecumenical Grant. We were invited to apply for a much larger grant, Breaking the Chains, targeting women who are, have been or are at risk of prostitution. We hear next month! More grants will be submitted as we can crank them out.
But what is most exciting is our work with women. We have now worked with numbers approaching the 250 mark. New women are touched every week at Liberty Manor and our follow up program. Groups are going well and all are loving them. Leaders are also participants as we seek to come alongside women rather than a top down model. We do a lot of individual work with women as well, listening to their concerns and nudging them towards healthy living and decisions.
Groups at Liberty Manor address women in the most intensive, restrictive, long term residential program in the area. Most woman come to Liberty Manor in lieu of jail or prison. The majority are felons and many have been prostitutes and homeless. Many are excited to hear that we will be there for them when they finish their program. Many group sessions are poignant and tear-filled with leaders wiping their eyes as well.
Follow up program: While we’ve been tracking with individual women in recovery for over two and a half years, we’ve finally begun our formal follow up program with weekly group meetings. Six women attended our first meeting and each left beaming and exclaiming how much the session had helped. Only two of these women had been at Liberty Manor and most now live at the YWCA. These women will also help shape our program and give leadership.
Friends of Women in Recovery: We have successfully matched women in recovery with other women who will come along side them for a mutually supportive relationship. Mary Faucher is over 80 and is so enthusiastic about the program that she can’t wait to go out speaking about it. She and her friend, Charmain, have become very good buddies and are working hard to promote our programs.
We are looking for more Friends of Women in Recovery. Given the nature of the relationship, there’s some screening for appropriate matches. We are presently looking for women who have not had issues with chemical dependency. Training will be provided, partly led by women in recovery themselves. Please contact Joy if you are interested.
Religious or Spiritual? Our program is not explicitly religious as not all women come from Christian background. We do not proselytize and support women wherever they are in their spiritual journey.
We have noticed that most are Christian and we help them connect to faith communities if they do not already have them. Our greatest response in support has also come from faith communities and organizations. This has opened the door to especially bring our program to faith communities and offer some explicitly Christian programs for those who desire them.
Be sure to read up about our fast-approaching Cabaret in another spot of this Ezine!
How can you help? There are two many ways to count:
- We need Friends of Women in Recovery.
- Invite us to your church or faith community to share our program and invite partnership.
- Join the $25 or $50 month club. Any size of gift is welcome whether one time or at regular intervals.
- Help with the Cabaret by coming, telling others, donating sponsorships or items/services for our silent auction or helping with the actual event.
- Introduce us to other folks interested in empowering women—especially other women.
- Volunteer in a myriad of ways. We hook up volunteers with what they like to do—you get to choose from a list of options.
Watch for coming stories.
