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| KBC Program Helps Ex-Offenders Regain Livelihood |
| Release Date: 03/10/2008 |
LOUISVILLE - One week before she was to be released from a 33-year term in a correctional facility, Dawn Albert learned that her living arrangements at a halfway house had fallen through, leaving her with no place to go.
Knowing she needed a home in order to be released, but without any other options, Albert turned to the pastor in the prison.
“I had no family in Kentucky. I went to the pastor, and he recommended me for the R/6 Mentoring Program,” she said. Albert was accepted into the program and began the process of re-entering society.
The R/6 Mentoring Program is an extension of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s ongoing prison ministry. Its goal is to help ex-offenders become self sufficient upon release from prison.
R/6 uses local church support and mentors to help former offenders re-acclimate to society by offering guidance in discipline, discipleship and devotion.
Crestwood Baptist Church in Crestwood agreed to help Albert through the program and went on to pay the deposit and first month’s rent on an apartment for her. A mentor from Crestwood, Betty Stringer, began regularly meeting with Albert.
“Betty listened to me whenever I needed someone to talk to as I worked at getting established,” Albert said. “She would go to Crestwood and say ‘we need to get Dawn some more clothes,’ and they would send me care packs with shoes, jeans and body wash.”
The concept for R/6 began in February 2005 when a Kentucky pastor who was concerned about ministering to ex-offenders contacted the KBC about the need, said Gary King, director of the R/6 Mentoring Program.
King worked with Randy Foster, director of the KBC’s Baptist Men on Mission department, to develop the program, which officially began in June of 2006. King has served as the program’s director ever since.
According to King, R/6 stands for the six program goals of release, re-entering, re-adjustment, relationships, responsibility and reward.
“Our goal is to help those who will be able to support themselves if we can help them get their feet back on the ground,” he said. “Whether it is offering temporary financial support, spiritual support, employment or housing assistance, we do what we can to get them established.”
The program has been successful, said King, but more churches are needed to help meet the great need. According to King, churches can help either by becoming sponsoring churches who take on ex-offenders or by providing financial assistance.
R/6 works with ex-offenders for 12 weeks and then reevaluates their situations to see if they need and warrant further assistance, King said. He said R/6 seeks to make contact with potential participants six months prior to their release date.
“We interview guards, chaplains and others who have been associated with them,” he said. “We do some background work on them, and check on their family situations.
“The state says that 33,000 ex-offenders will be coming out in the next 12 months, so we can’t help all of them. We hand out applications to chaplains, or our committee members hand them out [to inmates] when they visit prisons.”
Mentors for each ex-offender come from a local church, and King said the mentors work personally with each participant, helping them line up housing and employment. The spiritual component of R/6 is a high priority, King said.
“Getting the ex-offenders connected to God spiritually is the goal, because we feel like that is the key to their success,” he said. “The mentors meet with them one time a week doing Bible study and participants are expected to attend church functions or activities a minimum of three times per week.”
Other churches across Kentucky have become convinced of the program’s importance and have made significant contributions to its growth.
Near the end of 2007, Maranatha Community Baptist Church in Lexington began renting a three-bedroom home to house R/6 participants. Senior pastor William Farris said the church saw the need to reach out to the ex-offenders.
“Nobody wants to give them a second chance, and it is hard to succeed when the deck is stacked against you,” he said. “We presently have a full house with a house manager. The manager provides order and security, cooks food and serves as a trained mentor leading them in Bible study. He offers them spiritual advice and guidance.”
Farris said Maranatha decided after one month of working in the program to pursue the purchase of a larger house, because of the level of need.
King said he is negotiating with a housing organization to rent a portion of their facility in Willsburg, which would be able to house up to 25 men. R/6 is also looking into using the organization’s 19-bed facility in Hustonville to house women.
Those who have gone through R/6 believe the program was critical to their success.
“It meant the world to me to know there was an organization based on faith that was believing in me and constantly helping me,” said Albert. “That is one of the reasons that I want to become a mentor myself. It [the program] is so important.”
For more information on the R/6 Mentoring Program or to become a sponsoring church, call 502-489-3527 or 866-489-3527 or visit www.kybaptist.org/r6.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of more than 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative headquarters in Louisville, Ky. including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more.
Release prepared by Garrett E. Wishall, KBC Communications |
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