"We all come together as a family and for that I will be forever grateful," said Allen Long, a resident of Unity House, a shelter run by Southwest Gardens for men recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.
Published Monday, Feb. 22, 1999
For teen-agers, the homeless, drug addicts and the hopeless, the Farrell agency serves as a last chance and has become family.
"We all come together as a family and for that I will be forever grateful," said Allen Long, a resident of Unity House, a shelter run by Southwest Gardens for men recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.
Long said he has been clean for 14 years, but hit "rock bottom" two weeks ago before begin referred to the Unity House, where he met Martha Richards, who founded Southwest Gardens.
"Because Southwest Gardens opened the door, I saw that there was a light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "The next place for me was the streets, but really it was suicide." Since arriving at Unity House, Long has been volunteering his construction skills there and will begin a job as a roofer this week."Ms. Richards is a mother to all of us and to her I will be forever grateful," he said. "God showed me a different way through her."
Long is just one of many people who call Mrs. Richards "Ma" and credit her for turning their lives around.
Another is Juan Brown.
"I've got a house," Ms. Brown said. "Ma Richards took me in before there was an Ark House and kept me from going back to the streets and drugs in Pittsburgh." Ms. Brown, who lived with Mrs. Richards, later moved into Ark House, a women's shelter on Fruit Avenue in Farrell. Ms. Brown bought her own home for the first time last year through a program with Southwest Gardens and First National Bank.
"To my surprise I have a house and am a Farrell taxpayer," she said.
Ms. Brown, who now is a volunteer at the Ark House, said she has chosen to put her roots down in Farrell and credits the people at Southwest Gardens for helping her to turn her life around.
As Ms. Brown shared her story, Ark House volunteer Stella Butler smiled, remembering the faces of many former residents who have found a new start.
After she retired, Ms. Butler was looking for a place to volunteer when she discovered the Ark House.
"I wanted to give something back to the community," she said. "I love working with the women and their children." Ms. Butler said she wanted to focus on the house's children, many of whom are physically and mentally abused. The children long for attention while their parents learn that yelling isn't the way to solve everything.
"I do a lot of follow-up with the women from the house," she said. "It's really amazing to see some of the progress that they've made." Only eight women out of 120 have returned to the shelter after going out on their own, Ms. Butler said.
Tola Adegoke, who was referred to the Ark House from a women's shelter in New Castle, said she's not sure where she would be without the house.
"The people are so friendly," she said. "We are not forced to leave after so long like with other shelters. In this place, they let you stay until you find a job, save money and figure out how to get back." But Southwest Gardens knows what it's like to fall on hard times.
According to figures provided to The Herald in December, the agency expected to be more than $65,000 in the red at the end of 1998.
The group's debt continued to grow as Mrs. Richards and the board of directors struggled to maintain the services. Many extras have been discontinued but the two shelters and tutoring programs remain.
The agency does not receive any funding from outside sources. People such as Jennifer Groth, a volunteer who found the agency through the United Way of Mercer County, are working to bring the agency out of the red.
Ms. Groth is writing grant applications and offers other financial advice to the struggling agency.
"I was looking for some place where I could make a difference with my skills," she said.
David Haniwalt, a volunteer who stayed after completing court-ordered community service there, said Southwest Gardens filled the void in his recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Haniwalt tutors kids after school in math and science.
"At first I was fulfilling an obligation to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but as time elapsed this was my niche," he said. "My prayers were answered as I was filling the void.
This is now my home. I've found a friend and I've found love."
The pastor of Friendship Baptist Church, Farrell, said he was a young passive, traditional minister who "stayed at the pulpit and taught patience (and) prayer in waiting for the Lord's will."
He said the march was the beginning of his transformation. He led the marchers, who were advocating voting rights, in chants.
"I can't explain being in Montgomery in the center of all of the issues," he said. "Dr. King was an eloquent man who was dedicated to the community and I had the opportunity to be supportive of a move like that."
King's philosophy of nonviolence did not sit well with some of the militants. That, Mr. Simon said, added to the unique experience.
"Some changes have taken place but not all of the changes King dreamed of," he said. "Some say the dream has become a nightmare."
A couple of years later, the Ford Foundation sponsored Mr. Simon's attendance at a series of intense workshops on the ills facing society. Participants were to take what they learned back to their communities, he said.
As part of the training, Mr. Simon was sent to the streets with $6 in his pocket and no identification.
"We were told this was rock bottom and we had to fend for ourselves on the streets for four days," he said.
After experiencing different homeless shelters, missions and $1.50-an-hour jobs, Mr. Simon said his group got together to share experiences.
"It was sensitizing us to the need for religious leaders to understand social conditions and how that impacted lives," he said. "It was then a new conversion experience and I found the difference between social service and social action."
People don't mind giving food baskets and clothing -- social service, he said. But people do not address the things that make people the way they are and take social action.
"You might get a few people who assist but that's it," he said. "And it's not so much that we need dreamers but rather we need visionaries."
Mr. Simon, who will speak at Southwest Gardens' annual dinner Friday in the Rosemont banquet and conference center in Sharon, called the agency's Martha Richards a pioneer.
"One thing we have learned from the past is that it takes people with a dedication and commitment to others," he said. "And she doesn't let opposition stop her."
Mrs. Richards is taking social action and bringing about change through organizations such as Southwest Gardens, Mr. Simon said.
