Snapshot of our Womens Work

This is a report of our Women and Family Home, written by Paula Katzberg, our Volunteer Womens Resident Manager of the LifeChange Discipleship Program. It was written to reflect the first quarter of our operations, and it is an excellent snapshot of our womens work! If you don't have time to read it all, let me recommend the section, "Growing Pains." Very funny!


Overview
The new Souls Harbour Rescue Mission (SHRM) Women’s Home at 1380 Elphinstone Street, Regina, opened March 1, 2007. One resident and the 2 children living with her moved into the facility that day from the old women’s wing at 3535 8th Avenue. A recent graduate of the SHRM LifeChange program moved into another room, as an Intern. More residents gradually joined the program, and by the end of March all 7 usable rooms were occupied. At the end of June, all 9 rooms were occupied.

Statistics
In all, there have been 11 residents at this facility. The resident that moved from the old facility graduated in May, and moved out at the end of that month. Four residents relapsed and either left voluntarily or were asked to leave in accordance with our zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol at SHRM. Another client relapsed, but took the option of coming back after 10 days at detox, which strengthened her commitment to the LifeChange program. Due to the absence of a Women’s Shelter in Regina at this time, (except for battered women), she was permitted to return to SHRM after 8 days, as the detox centre needed her bed. Three of the clients who moved in during March have now completed the Stabilization phase and graduated to Phase II of the LifeChange program.

The occupancy rate for March – June 2007 was 83%, with between 1 and 5 children living at the Women’s Home with their mothers, and another 1 to 3 children visiting their mothers. See the last page of this report for more details.

Rent has been charged in the amount of $230.00 per room, plus $60.00 for board and $100 for each live-in child. Community Resources pays this amount for most of the women. The Intern is allowed to stay for free, as a part of her payment package. Ten residents have paid rent 37 times from March 1 until June 30. This has resulted in an income of $6342.66.

The size of the waiting list has varied from none, when we were starting up in March, to 11. However, if there is no space for them at the time they initially contact us, it is unusual for them to join the program. By the time a room is available, they have often moved, relapsed, or lost interest, in which case they usually do not return our calls. As of mid-July, there are 5 women on the waiting list.

Staff and Volunteers
The Women’s Home Resident Manager is a full-time volunteer. As mentioned previously, an Intern works a number of evening supervisory shifts. Another recent graduate volunteers as one of the other evening supervisors. Other volunteers also assist as evening supervisors, facilitate the weekly Overcomers sessions, or take residents to appointments.

A volunteer and her husband “adopted” one of the bedrooms, and undertook to furnish it. This volunteer has also generously taken each client out on a shopping trip and lunch, and has become very close to all of them. They were very disappointed when she told them she is moving to Alberta at the end of July, and are planning a farewell party for her. Community involvement includes offering free scrap-booking once a week, a sewing class and a massage for a resident in pain from the side-effects of Hepatitis C injections.

Volunteers helped with modifications to the main floor to create the apartment for the live-in Resident Manager. They put up a wall to create a 2nd bedroom; walled off a hallway to make a laundry; and made a doorway to turn an office into a living room. A team of volunteers removed old carpet and laid laminate flooring throughout the apartment and in the office. An elderly couple undertook to paint the whole apartment and the office themselves. They later returned to paint the main entrance and hallway.

Growing Pains
At first, the furnishings were very basic: most rooms just having a mattress on the floor and either a desk or a dresser. The SHRM Women’s Auxiliary donated 7 bunk beds consisting of a double futon plus an upper single bed. The futon mattresses had overstuffed and/or understuffed sections, and they were lumpy and very uncomfortable. There was one with a huge lump down the middle that the residents nick-named the “man in the middle”. The owner of the store that had supplied them agreed to take the mattresses back, but it took quite some time for the upgraded ones to arrive. The residents were so pleased to have a safe place to sleep, they did not complain, but joked about it. However, they were delighted when they finally had comfortable mattresses. In the mean time, the store owner replaced the old-fashioned second-hand living room furniture with new leather sofas and matching lamps. Other donations of desks, chairs, dressers, bedside tables and lamps trickled in, and as of mid-July our only remaining deficiencies for the bedrooms are 2 small wardrobes for the rooms that do not have closets, and a couple of desks to replace ones that were brought from the old women’s wing, which is now used as a family wing for men with custody of their children. There are plans to set up a couple of computers and Internet for the residents in the library, but the only computer donated so far does not work.

As is often the case with moving into an older building, there were a number of unexpected problems the first few weeks. As the snow on the flat roof started melting, it became clear why the additional 2 rooms smelled badly – the roof needed replacing. The water dripped down the light fixture in one of the rooms, into a bucket placed underneath, so the clients nick-named it the “fountain light”. The company that replaced the roof also replaced the roof on the garage (at no cost to SHRM). Once the roof was replaced, the 2 rooms were repaired and painted, and were available for clients on May 28. There were other minor repairs, such as doors that wouldn’t close, dripping taps, plugged sinks, and broken door bells and windows. With the assistance of a contractor, these were mostly completed by the end of May. A donor offered to replace the carpet in the building, and this work is underway as of mid-July, one floor at a time. In addition, the carpet in the upstairs bathrooms is being replaced with vinyl flooring; and in the basement dining room and front entrance by ceramic tile.

Conclusion
Clients with addictions who are not fully committed to changing their lives typically did not stay more than one or two weeks before relapsing. The only exception in this period was a mother who stayed 55 days and could not reconcile herself to her children being in foster care, then reverted to the coping mechanism she was most familiar with - drugs. Most of our clients have been users of crack cocaine and alcohol with a history of childhood abuse of various types. One came from jail, having served time for defrauding her employer to support her drug use. Another arrived pregnant, having returned to drugs and prostitution when her children were taken from her. Yet another did not plan to come to Regina, but came as a result of a coin toss when she needed to run yet again from her old life style of drugs and violence, and came to the Women’s Home 2 days after arriving in Regina. They all have different, heartrending stories to tell, but they all have one thing in common – their deep gratitude for this Women’s Home, and the chance it offers to become the beautiful, free person they were meant to be through the SHRM LifeChange program.

Despair and poverty lurks around the inner city

Although Fall was our busy season, this past year Winter was REALLY busy due to the merger of Regina RESCUE Mission with Souls Harbour.

Now that it's Summer, we are all taking our vacations, which means it remains busy as people fill in and provide coverage in various departments. The majority of us are cross trained in most departments.

One week in August we have SEVEN people away at once due to illness, a conference, and vacation planned nearly a year in advance! So, IS there a slow season? I guess not for our staff, who covered for Ken and I one month in Spring!

Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. Somewhere in there, we all take holidays. We all try and slow down and re-prioritize, spending time with our families, and enjoying our abundant blessings.

The poor and needy do not take vacation. They don't have money to fix up their house this summer. Time away might mean a night at our Shelter. Time with the family might mean visiting Daddy in prison.

Please pray for us as we seek to spend time with our own families, while continuing to make our inner city residents a priority. North Central and the Core of Regina is a troubled, hurting world amongst a relatively normal city! Much despair and poverty lurks around each corner.

It is our aim to RESCUE people from poverty, addiction, and sin, by offering emergency help, such as food, clothing and shelter, Life Changing recovery Programs, and the Gospel Message.

If Kryptonite is Sin

We are Superman losing our power.

How do we get it back?

SHRM Garage Sale!

From today's online Leader Post:

MASSIVE SALE IN SUPPORT OF

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission

3535 8th Ave

Everything must go!

Saturday, July 21st

Starting at 9am

Introducing Drew

Drew is now on our casual labour crew, hoping to begin an internship when his schooling and upgrading is completed next month. His energy and enthusiasm mark his countenance with daily joy. He is always eager to try new things and offer words of encouragement, even to the staff! He is truly a delight to have around.

His graduation address, written by Melanie, and read by me, follows:

Mr. Andrew Carpenter

Drew also grew up in Wynyard, in a loving family with four siblings. He describes his parents as loving and hard-working, putting family above all else. However, at the age of 13, tragedy struck. His older brother was killed, sending the family into shock and grief. Drew says, “In my grief, I took up a life of debauchery, replacing everything I once held dear to the numbness and escape of alcohol and drugs.”

He began to find some healing in his 20's. He was married and had two children. 10 years later, his wife left him and he found himself alone once again. In Drew's words, “This trauma in my life caused me to reunite with my old companions, alcohol and drugs. I abandoned God, Jesus and all that is good. But rather than dwell on my iniquities of the past, instead I'd sooner convey my expressions of all the blessings now in my life.”

Drew joined the LifeChange Program just over a year ago. He was tired of living his life apart from God and so one day he knelt down and surrendered to Christ, begging Him to come to the rescue. That same day, God opened the doors for Drew to come to the Mission.

Drew has worked through his past and his addiction and is living a new life. He has been taking classes through the Department of Community Resources and plans to begin Rescue College later this summer.

Drew, we are looking forward to seeing a lot more of you in the future!

Congratulations, Lois!

Another one of our 2007 graduates, and personal friend of mine, is Lois. Lois worked with me throughout her program, and beyond, utilizing her strong administrative and typing skills in the office. Here is her graduation introduction.

Ms. Lois Hlady

Lois grew up in the small town of Wynyard, Saskatchewan. She actually went to school with one of Andrew's brothers! [Meet Drew later this week.] She came from a loving family but that love could not spare her from some of life's traumas. She married and became pregnant at the age of 20. During this time she became severely depressed. After her daughter was born, she found herself unable to even speak. Eventually medication helped but within a few years she turned, instead, to alcohol to make herself feel better.

The marriage was trouble and eventually they divorced. She and her daughter, Amanda, began to make it on their own. Lois went to university and got several health care certificates. She was able to provide for her family but battled with alcohol and chronic depression through the years.

When she came to the Mission last September, she had been drinking heavily for the last decade, steadily getting deeper and deeper into the pit of addiction. She finally ended up in the psychiatric ward at the General Hospital. At this point, her family contacted us. Lois agreed to join the program and moved in a short time later.

It was amazing to watch Lois change. Within a few weeks, a new person emerged. People didn't even recognize her anymore; she looked so happy and healthy. She found the Lord at the Mission, and He truly transformed her.

Lois is now living back at her home and enjoying mended relationships with her family. She volunteers once a week looking after the women and children, and we are looking forward to seeing where God leads her in the future.

Encouragement & Comfort

All Praise to God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the source of every mercy and
the God who comforts us.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that
we will be able to comfort others.
When others are troubled,
we will be able to give them the
same comfort God has given us.
You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ,
the more God will shower us with
His comfort through Christ.
So when we are weighed down with troubles,
it is for your benefit and salvation.
For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn,
can be an encouragement to you.

The Golden Hour

It was interesting to read something from a management publication I receive from Brian Tracy:

You become what you think about most of the time. And the most important part of each day is what you think about at the beginning of that day.

It's actually a Scriptural principle, perhaps the most well-known passage being an old chorus from Psalm 5:3--

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

This article goes on to giving a secret away that Christians who practise morning devotional times alreay know. (Words in italics mine.)

Start Your Day Right

Take 30 minutes each morning to sit quietly and to reflect on your goals. You'll find when you read the biographies and autobiographies of successful business and missionary men and women that almost every one of them began their upward trajectory to success when they begin getting up early in the morning and spending time with God.

This is called the Golden Hour. The first hour sets the tone for the day. The things that you do in the first hour prepare your mind and set you up for the entire day. During the first thirty to sixty minutes, take time to think and read and pray.

Yesterday morning Ken's message was on being more like Christ. It was Part 2 of 3.

1. How to be like Christ - Body
2. How to be like Christ - Mind
3. How to be like Christ - Soul

Essentially, to have the same mind as Christ, we need to lend some focus onto what we think about. Matthew 12:34 says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." What is in your heart and mind WILL come out in your actions and your words.

Will we allow ourselves to be double-minded hypocrites? Later on in the same chapter in Matthew, we're told we will give an account to God for every idle word we speak! Will we learn to control our thought life and think about what is true, honest, just pure,and lovely?

Meet Marvin Mainville

Dear Michelle and Ken,

I feel I need to do this, as I have surpassed my goal of two years - being alcohol free. It's wasn't easy. Once again I must say, the LifeChange Program I've been through, was indeed a life change, especially for me. To all the staff at the Rescue Mission I thank you all.

Briefly, when I came to the Mission, I was evicted from where I called home. I needed a roof over my head, something to eat, and this was where it could be had. Believe me that was my intention, to find a place and move on. As I progressed through the program my thinking became more clear.

I've been through anger management, I got a certificate for that. As I encounter some workers either in a shop or fast food place, they can manage to anger me but I don't show it or retaliate in the way I used to. I think of the situation. By going to church on Sundays I see God in a different perspective.

Enough of me yakking. What I'm giving you [decorative plate of an Indian Chief] is something I hope you respect. Where you put it I wouldn't know. Michelle you must have your own office. Ken I know you have. To share it, you might have to cut it in half.

Sincerely,

Marvin

PS. I do have lots going on: my brother is in Afghanistan, Phalina is overdue on her pregnancy; a C-section needs to be done. I missed church one Sunday, I do have a picture of my sister.

Marvin was reluctant to go to his graduation ceremony this year at the Love Your Neighbour Fund Raising Banquet. He felt torn between grieving his sister and celebrating his new life. During our last crib game, I asked him if it was worth it.

He looked up at me, smiled, and said, "Well, George wouldn't let me off the hook. He kept insisting." In the end he said it was a very special time made even better by the presence of his granddaughter, Phalina, at the head table with him, Steve Bell, and the grads.

Here is the tribute I read for Marvin at his graduation ceremony on May 9th:

Mr. Marvin Mainville

Marvin stands here a changed man. He grew up in an Ontario border town. He started drinking at 13 years old, crossing the border into Minnesota to get alcohol. Prejudice was rampant at that time and he found himself in in frequent fistfights. Things spiraled downhill and he found himself in a United States Prison. His life was not an easy one and alcohol became a way out.

Marvin came to the LifeChange Program at the Mission several times. Each time he would make it a month or two and then head back to his old life. He wanted to change but the addiction was winning.

In March of 2005 he went to Ontario to attend his father's funeral. When he came back he found himself evicted from his place of residence. With no place to go, the Mission crossed his mind once again. He says that his motivation for coming was a roof over his head and food to eat. Then he planned to start looking for a new place to stay.

It didn't take long this time though for his thinking to start changing. He began to focus on his addiction and surrendered to Christ. He learned how to say no when old friends approached him. Marvin successfully completed an anger management course and learned how to be patient.

I asked Marvin, after all these years, what made the difference now, at 64 years old? Marvin said, “It’s because I have Jesus in my life now, Michelle.”

Congratulations, Marvin!

In the News: Roman Catholic church only true church, says Vatican

I'm not sure why everyone is up in arms about the pope's decree. This is not new information, people!! He is simply reiterating dogma. Interesting to note that I found out that the Pope and I have something in common: We are both writing books on vacation!

Annual Love Your Neighbour Fund Raising Banquet & Lifechange Graduation Ceremony

I had been waiting and waiting for the pictures from our Love Your Neighbour Fund Raising Banquet and Graduation. As it turns out, someone put it in our safe when I was on vacation and forgot to tell me about it!

Many thanks to Bruce Vasselin of Designer Photgraphic Technologies, our locally reknowned photographer who gives his time and resources to make this event truly memorable.

This annual gala event was a sell-out with over 1000 people in attendance! With over 100 corporate and church sponsorships, and donations that evening, we raised over $88,000! But the highlight was seeing those 9 graduates and their children walk the stage. Men and women who have climbed out of the gutter, and are now productive members of society. Even our speaker, Juno award winning Steve Bell, said he'd never experienced such an excited and anticipative crowd at a banquet before.

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present the graduating class of 2007!

Book Review: Time Management from the Inside Out

Time Management from the Inside Out,
by Julie Morgenstern

The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule - and Your Life.

I've read a lot of these kind of books, but as I skimmed this one the main thing that was "revolutionary" was the concept of time as a box.

The critique on Amazon.com says,

Morgenstern likens a cluttered schedule to a cluttered closet. For example, a closet is typically "crammed with more stuff than storage," and a schedule is typically "crammed with more tasks than time."

When you look at your time and your schedule as a closet, you can figure out if your closet is organized, stuffed, overstuffed, disorganized, or what have you.

One of the most helpful things in the book was the diagnostic tool to determine what things hold us back. Here are mine:

Tasks Have No "Home"
Your lists do you no good if you don't place a priority on the "to do" item and set aside a time to do them! I love this quote: "If you think you will get to anything in your "spare time," keeping in mind that there is no such thing as spare time!" Again, reminding us to think in more tangible terms - that time is like a closet, or a box.

Your Space Is Disorganized
Need I say more? Space wise, my office needs a total make-over. Or it needs to double in size. Vicki and I are currently seeking out tips from those whose professions require that they juggle multiple tasks and do them often simultaneously! Accountants and others, please leave us your comments! Did you know it takes 3 days to organize an office, and one to organize a room in your home? There's hope for all of us Messies! (I'm getting a desk with drawers next week, which will help correct this diagnostic error!)

You Have and Unrealistic Workload
Yes. Yes I do.

You Are in Transition
Yes. Yes I am.

You are in an Interruption-Rich Environment.
Part of the beauty of my ministry is the variety and excitement the daily mission chaos provides! However, it often means I have to close my door for a while or come in after hours to get things done.

You have a Disorganized Partner.
No comment.

Book Review: Easier Than You Think

Easier Than You Think,
by Richard Carlson.

Carlson, who passed away December of '06, is best known for his Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series.

I chose this book on CD from the library to listen to on the way to and from the campground last month. It's a series of short "vignettes" on "The Small Changes That Add Up to a World of Difference."

A couple that stood out in my mind were:

Watch your thoughts. I am always intrigued by the power of the mind. Part of the Genesis Process we use at the Mission teaches that the brain is very powerful and it learns patterns of behaviour. The good news is, we can re-train our brain!

Set your expectations to zero. Okay, I've always heard to lower your expectations, but zero?! This was encouraging to me because, while I push people to their best on the job, if you attach that to expectations, you are in for trouble! The only one you can control is yourself.

Don't take notes. Are you kidding me? I can't NOT take notes. It's part of my learning process! I'm stressed out about this one. Your feedback will be appreciated.

Leave things as you found them. Well, this is about not taking seashells from the seashore, and always leaving a place a little neater than you found it. It's about reusable grocery bags. I think in my past I've been a little too hasty in this category. My reasoning has been that we're going to have a new Heaven and a new earth one day anyways! But God's command to take care of the earth has not been overturned. Steve is right. It's a stewardship thing.

In the end, Ken wondered if there were too many easy solutions that we couldn't remember them all. Kind of defeats the purpose. I pictured him, head in his hands, tearing his hair out, saying, "I should have remembered rule 72!"

Am I A Soldier of the Cross?

We lost a dear friend to the work of RESCUE at the end of last year. We said good bye to The Rev Harry Lehotsky, from the inner city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Lord allowed him enough time to say good bye to us. You can hear his final farewell here. Bring a tissue.

When CBC talks about someone who often talked about God, you know a servant has been sent home. And when this servant has been taken home on the day of remembrance, November 11th, you know these words are God breathed:

And the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

-2 Timothy 2 & 3

Thank you for being an example, Harry. I will miss you. And I will be a better soldier because you lived.

Canada's Greenest Shopping Bag

Twice the size of a standard plastic grocery bag, this revolutionary shopping bag does more than just carry groceries; it actually helps you do your part to protect the environment.

It may be hard to believe but the product you're holding is made of recycled plastic. While polyester contains mostly virgin plastic fibres, the material used to make this bag comes from 85% post-consumer recycled plastic. In fact, we've used soft drink and water bottles collected from recycling facilities to create this soft yet sturdy shopping bag. This saves valuable petroleum-based raw materials and reduces the consumption of non-renewable energy needed to create new polyester. Best of all, those plastic bottles that could have eventually ended up in landfill sites are put to good use!

By using this bag for your weekly grocery shopping, you will use approximately 100 fewer plastic bags per year. That's less clutter in your cupboards and more importantly, less plastic getting thrown out. And of course, when your shopping bag reaches the end of its life, it can be fully recycled.

This bag is marketing genius. I was stunned to see it at a regular sale price of .99 cents. I wondered why they would sell it so cheap. I mean, this bag is nice looking, it's really large with a square bottom, so it's roomier like the old paper grocery bags. I would even use it for a book bag, or to bring eggs and milk home from the Mission.

Think about it. They have to supply enough bags made to fulfill the demand in all their stores across Canada: Extra Foods, Superstore, and Loblaws. On top of that, if you use the bag along with your President's Choice credit or debit card, you get 50 extra points. This creates further branding and customer loyalty. If you don't have one of the cards, it encourages you to get one. If you have a card AND a bag, you are more likely going to shop there. It's like Air Miles on steroids.

All that, and the feel good feeling of saving the earth.

One of the books I listened to this summer on vacation was "Easier Than You Think: because life doesn't have to be so hard--The Small Changes that Add Up to a World of Difference," by Richard Carlson. One of his chapters was on saving 100 bags per year with a simple solution of a reusable shopping bag. The collective goal of President's Choice is a billion bags this year! The reason Carlson said this is such a simple idea is that you just throw them in your trunk and leave them until the next trip to the market. This takes mere seconds.

I bought 4 bags and I think you should too.

SnowPatio

As temperatures climbed nearly to a sweltering 38 degrees today, I couldn't get enough iced coffee. Now I'm wide awake at 10 p.m. We actually broke temperature records across the province! Anyway, here's my cool visual thought for the day.

Salute to Canada!

1. Eh?!

2. Tim Hortons

3. The Canadian Rockies

4. Corner Gas!

5. Politeness & Humility

6. Peacekeepers

7. Breathing Space - The Great White North

8. Vive les francais!

9. Mulitculturalism

10. The Guess Who & Barenaked Ladies

Wanna have a gas online?

Visit CornerGas.com!

We had a wonderful surprise on Friday when the Set Decorators from Corner Gas showed up with all kinds of great groceries and treats. Apparently suppliers donate them to the show hoping they'll end up on a shelf at "The Ruby." And now, they are on our shelves helping the homeless! YAY! There was so much product it just kept coming and coming. And they said there will be more where that came from!

PS. We also found out Brent Butt is married to "Wanda" on the show!

Life's A Beach!

We're back from our excursion to Rowan's Ravine Provincial Campground. It took two weeks to reduce our stress level to the point where we could have some fun! After nearly a month away we definately feel relaxed and refreshed and eager to be back in the saddle again! Ken's focus for the summer will be to grow the Good News Chapel. I plan to coordinate a special event for fall, update job descriptions and organize some of the Mission storage areas.

Path to the Beach

We were the only two on the beach every single day! We felt like we OWNED Rowan's Ravine!

This is where we eat beach fries. Or the back up plan for a burned supper. What? It only happened once...

This is where we sat and made our retirement plans. It was a beautiful view of the marina and lake atop a windy hill.