OUR STORY
A Note From April O'Brien
(Founder of Reclaim Life)
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Reclaim Life was birthed out of a desire to fill a need in our community for women who need help getting back on their feet. Whether their current circumstances stemmed from bad choices in their past or they are simply in need of mentoring to learn how to make good spiritual, physical, and financial choices while being on their own... sometimes people just need to see what "healthy" looks like.
The need became apparent when, through a series of unusual events, I ended up visiting a girl in jail who I watched painfully struggle to get back on her feet. I would take her from property management places to rental houses, which were usually "slum lords" in neighborhoods infested by drugs and the lifestyle she was trying to escape. It was obvious that her background made it very difficult to be successful. She had no license, so she would ride her moped to work at 3 o'clock in the morning (rain, snow, or shine) and then would have to make it across town to check into community corrections while attending her 4-6 classes a week so that she could complete her program.
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I was overwhelmed and I couldn't imagine how she felt. I felt as if the system had set her up for failure...unintentionally. I truly understand that there must be consequences for bad choices but this was NOT working; I wanted to film a documentary of her everyday life and title it "System Failure." The observation I made during this time was extremely discouraging: if these individuals had no coping mechanisms, they would soon return to their default mode, which was usually either drugs or an unhealthy relationship.
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I began to pray how to fill the need and support other women in her situation.
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The "AHA" Moment
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The Lord began to show me how we could use our little coffee shop "Sacred Grounds Reclaimed" to come alongside these women. We could teach them soft skills for future jobs while mentoring and encouraging them. We could provide a home while ecouraging them to form healthy stable relationships built on Christ. Over time, God brought all the pieces together.
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.
Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
Ephesians 3:17
Watch Founder April O'Brien Share Her Heart for Reclaim Life
OUR MISSION
Our goal is to see the lives of women transformed through a relationship with Jesus. We will provide a support structure within a caring community in order to grow stability, accountability, and sustainability for each woman's future.
OUR VISION
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Stability: Our desire is to give a stable home while living on campus and to provide a loving environment by which each woman will be encouraged to set goals according to her needs. During the first 3 months, women will learn to serve at our coffee shop while developing soft skills to integrate back into the work environment. The next 3 months the women will be working with community partner companies to build job skills and develop a resume.
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Accountability: Our desire is to encourage and equip women to be accountable in the areas of spiritual growth through discipleship classes, personal growth through mentorships, time management through a work schedule, and money management through financial classes. At the same time, they will be developing job skills in order to obtain employment with a sustainable wage.
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Sustainability: Our desire is to see each woman able to independently set financial goals with a budget, secure a good job, and establish a close community of support so that, when she enters back into the community, she will be successful in all areas of her life. We will also help women find decent, affordable housing through Habitat for Humanity or a rental property. Our goal will be to find housing in our “focus neighborhoods” to ensure accountability in order to increase the success rate of our women.