COMFORT QUILTERS is a group that makes quilts for various charities. They meet the second and fourth Thursdays, January through April.

For more information, contact Anne DeLaney at 884.6469.

PURDY PRISON CLOTHING DRIVE collects clothing to donate to women who are being released from prison.
For more information, contact Anne DeLaney at 884.6469

TAKING A CHANCE

Have you ever been surprised by a phone call? Audrey Shaw once was—and it was a phone call she herself made! The results of that call have been life-changing, both for her and for some of the sinners whom Jesus loves the most.

Audrey is a Chapel Hill elder. She is the mother of 8, grandmother of 13, and a retired contracting officer for the Federal civil service. She is also a dedicated volunteer in a hugely successful program at the Washington Correction Center for Women (WCCW) in Purdy, just a mile down the road from Chapel Hill. That’s the part that happened because of her phone call.

After her retirement in 1997 Audrey spent 4 years doing whatever she liked. Then she started to think to herself, “Hmm. There’s got to be something more to life than this.” In 2001 she joined Chapel Hill and began working on her walk with Jesus. She wondered, as she matured, what she could do to give her growing faith an edge.

Periodically Audrey drove past the WCCW and thought there must be something she could do there to help. But she didn’t know what it was. Then, she remembers, there came a day when Pastor Mark made his Call to Compassion, urging God’s people to get out there and find a ministry to serve the poor and broken. In response Audrey thought, “Well, it’s a perfect time to call the prison.”

“I say it was a God thing,” she says now of her call. “They put me right through to the person that handles volunteers.” That was the start of a journey on which she has been mightily used by God ever since to mend broken lives. She loves what God has allowed her to do, and she wants you to know that He can use you in the same way. There are many opportunities for service at the prison, she says, from very easy small parts to more involved time-intensive ones.

Audrey began by giving Life Skill Seminars, helping inmates learn those skills they would need when they were released. She then spent time arranging an annual inmate conference, which drew 250 inmates each year.

Next she was asked to head up a non-profit organization called Rebuilding Families, a re-entry program which has evolved into the mentoring program that exists today. Inmates who really want to change their lifestyles can apply. If they are accepted, they win themselves a new friend and the best possible chance to succeed once they leave the institution.

“Christians,” says Audrey, “have done a wonderful job of ministering to prisoners while they’re in prison. But that’s where it stops. And we know from research that it takes more than that.”

The number of women incarcerated in the United States has increased at nearly twice the rate of men according to a report released by the Justice Department. Reliable research shows that personal mentors, who work one-on-one with inmates, are society's best hope of stemming that tide.

In the Rebuilding Families program, a mentor meets with her assigned inmate for three to six months before her release date. She builds a trust relationship with the inmate, discovers her needs, and encourages her to be involved in prison programming, including things spiritual. She also helps with practical needs like finding housing.

The mentor picks up her mentee on the day of her release and takes her around to different offices to get whatever she needs and then delivers her to her new home. And she continues to be “a guide on the side,” a source of moral and emotional support, for a period of time after that, until the woman is well-established on her new path.

“You can’t just go in,” Audrey says, “and tell them, ‘This is what you can do’ and expect them to come out into the community and do that on their own. They just don’t have the skills. They’ve been on the fringes of society and have been abused beyond belief. They need new ways of thinking. Many can’t believe that there are people in the world who are willing to come in and take a chance on them.”

Audrey has taken that chance—over and over. She and other mentors in the program have now successfully helped more than 120 women. In fact, the program is so successful that they’ve actually had to scale it back and put a moratorium on accepting new clients because there aren’t enough mentors to cover all the bases. Most mentors handle only one or two clients at a time. Audrey at one point had fourteen. But that was too much—even for her!

Audrey tells great stories of her successes. One young woman, who was part of the prison parenting program, left WCCW with a 9-month-old daughter and the determination that she was “never going back, she was going no place but forward.” She elected not to go home, but to start a new life in a new place. She suffered some setbacks, but now lives in Bremerton, goes to night school, and has a responsible supervisory position with Kitsap Community Resources.

A second woman graduated from the TRAC (Trades Related Apprenticeship Certification) program at the prison in iron working and became the first and only female iron worker to be employed in the building of the new bridge.

A third woman, though still incarcerated, is on a work release program and has been hired by the Humane Society of Seattle. She commutes from the prison to her job by bus, but when she’s released in a few weeks she’ll move closer and be set to go. “Truly truly,” says Audrey, “she has turned her life around. She also tells me, ‘I think I’m going back to church.’ And what she says, she usually figures out a way to do.”

Audrey’s work changes the lives of prisoners. But it’s made a difference to her as well. “This work has been the foundation of my spiritual walk,” she says. “It’s totally changed me. I don’t look at life the same way I did. I just look to work for the Lord and that’s the work I want to do. I am drawn to give these women the tools to improve themselves. They are human beings that made the wrong choices. But given the opportunity there are many of them that can go out and become outstanding citizens.”

There is a whole lot more to Audrey’s story. There is not room here to tell it all. But she or any of the other Chapel Hill folks who are involved in prison ministry would love to talk to you further about what they do and about opportunities for your own involvement. They will be available on Sunday, June 22 in the Gathering Place after each of the three services. They invite you to meet them there to hear the many additional chapters of this wonderful story.