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Saturday, Dec. 01, 2007

Turning lives around

Isaiah House gets to heart of matter

If you think miracles on happen on 34th street at this time of year, take a trip to 2415 Mount Salem Road in Hustonville, 20 minutes from Danville.

There you will find the Isaiah House, a faith-based, non-profit drug- and alcohol-recovery center that currently houses 13 men. The story of the home's creation and survival is one of inspiration, proof that God never gives up on us and that He takes the bad of our lives and uses it for good.

In the summer of 1999, Mark LaPalme and his wife, Tammy, started the mission -- with absolutely no financial backing -- in their three-bedroom home in Danville. LaPalme was inspired by reading Isaiah 58:1-14, which offers hope for the "oppressed" or marginalized -- the poor, the homeless and the hungry. Mark quit his job cleaning windows to open what the couple thought would be just a homeless shelter. Plans soon changed, and the center evolved into a drug rehabilitation program.

Mark knew about drug addiction firsthand. He had abused cocaine, marijuana, pills, and alcohol for more than 24 years. He's now been sober for more than eight years.

And so he took his vision and his faith and put them into action.

The couple began by helping 15 guys, driving them to work, doctor visits, court appointments, church and anywhere else they needed to go. Mark would often wake up at 4 a.m. and go to bed at 1 a.m.

But the commitment didn't stop there.

With Tammy suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, the couple survived on her disability income -- $900 a month. At one point, they were broke seven days after the check arrived.

So they prayed. They trusted God. And they prayed some more.

And out of nowhere a man called and offered to take Mark and his family out to dinner. LaPalme told the man about his new, extended family of 19. The man took all 19 residents out to eat, and then gave them $1,000 to help the mission. When they returned home, the LaPalmes discovered a local pastor had lined the stairs outside their home with grocery bags and had left a $170 check in their van.

"God knows what we need, and he provides," Mark said.

The provision has continued over the years.

The program now features six full-time paid staff members, one full-time resident trustee, three paid part-time staff members, one full-time volunteer and several part-time volunteers.

The new facility will be an addition to the 4,500-square-foot mansion donated by Ed and Alice Isaac of Maryland that the group moved into in 2001.

In five years, the center has assisted more than 300 men.

Nine churches and 23 individual sponsors support the program. Many of the men cannot afford to pay the recovery program fees -- $8,900 a year for each man. In addition, the program does not allow the men to be employed for about three months, and they rely on the center for their basic needs during that time, Mark says.

With financial support, the Isaiah House provides men with testing for drugs, alcohol and tobacco; a faith-based 12-step program; individual counseling; support groups; General Educational Development test training; job placement; financial training; discipleship; structured Bible study and prayer; transportation; meals; anger-management classes; medical checkups and practical skills training.

The program has transformed the lives of many of the men who complete the one-year program. To date, 92 percent of the graduates are drug- and alcohol-free and 77 percent have never had a relapse, according to a survey by the program. The program includes a five-year after-care system that requires graduates to maintain contact with the center for 90 days, then once a month thereafter.

Jim Fletcher, the center's director of continuum care and relations, makes sure each graduate has a church membership, attends a support group, maintains a job and has a safe place to live.

The center's efforts have brought it national attention. The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids, Mich., named the Isaiah House the best program in Kentucky for three consecutive years, and one of the top 20 programs in the United States in 2006.