NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Peninsula Rescue Mission Women’s Ministry will soon open its doors.
The former Bayport Credit Union call center has been transformed into a 20-bed women’s shelter, a professional kitchen, cafeteria, chapel and office space for staff.
“It’s so beautiful. It’s cool. It feels nice. It’s clean. Everything is in order now,” said Rev. Alan DeFriese, Peninsula Rescue Mission, Inc. president.
After five years of planning and one year of construction, the women’s ministry project totaled $2.6 million.
“We have paid $1.5 million from money donated by the community — $1.1 million is borrowed on a line of credit and will have to be repaid,” said Faith DeFriese, Peninsula Rescue Mission, Inc., accounting and volunteer administrator.
“In 2020, we had a Zoom call with the deputy director of Human Services for Newport News and Hampton. It was in that conversation that we learned the group of ladies that we would serve. It was the group of ladies who were not being served at the time, unaccompanied and non-domestic violence. There’s nothing for them. We realized that’s the unmet need that Peninsula Rescue Mission (PRM) will tackle,” said Rev. Alan DeFriese.
In June 2023, supporters stood before Newport News city leaders to express the need for an unaccompanied women’s shelter.
“The city leaders listened well and, much to our surprise, two-thirds of the way through the evening. They announced that they were going to go ahead and vote that night. It was unanimous, with some really powerful testimonies, even from our city Council members, of how they had been moved by the voice of the community,” said Rev. Alan DeFriese.
Emily Ruppert, the Ministry director, helped develop the program with three phases, including a time of rest.
“The name of the program is ‘What does it look like to live well?'” said Ruppert.
There are three phases to the process of this program.
The first phase is a time of rest, a week to ten days of just resting, getting to know the building, the policies and procedures, times for chapel, times for meals, filling out paperwork, and some goal planning. The second phase is where the meat of the program is going to happen. We have partnered with a number of different organizations. The biggest one is Restore Hope, the biblical counseling program offered by Shalika Young. She will offer individual counseling and group counseling. She has taken a program and looked at the needs of the homeless community. [Young] She has an app that each one of our ladies will receive. She has a daily workbook that they will walk through assignments to work through their trauma and pain. Also, in that phase, they’re going to have a job readiness program that looks at interviewing skills, filling out applications. What do I wear to a job interview? What have my experiences been? [Young] She’s going to practice interviewing. We will also have a nutritional program that involves exercise a couple of times a week. Meal planning, financial planning for those meals, and learning how to cook in the kitchen. There is also a medical program we’re partnering with, Tree of Life Ministry with Dr. Carmen Johnson-Martell. She’s going to provide all of their medical services. We’re partnering with Samuels Mobile Dentistry. He is going to be providing all of the dental services. He will bring the dental services here to the home. We are also partnering with Bayport Credit Union. They are writing us a program that will last 6 to 8 weeks and run twice a year. That will help the ladies explore all of their different financial needs. We’ll be talking about debt snowballing, writing a budget, credit scores, and paying off any debts. Bayport will help them establish their checking and savings. So when they get to the third phase, which is when they’re really going to start working, then they have a place where their dollars can go. They can start saving their money!
-Emily Ruppert, Peninsula Rescue Mission, Inc. Women’s Ministry Director
Ruppert explains that the long-term program has seven elements.
“The whole idea of what does it look like to live well and wellness as, [not just] as women, but wellness as human beings living and functioning in society, relationships, that’s one big component of our program,” she said.
Volunteers will be invited to teach crafts like crochet, host dancing, game nights, and movie nights.
“We will be doing all of those hard things, but we’re also going to be doing a lot of fun,” said Ruppert. “You can’t do hard unless you can laugh and have joy and fun together.
The final stage will be to find and commit to a church in the area.
“We are asking the church to come along and partner with us,” said Ruppert.
Ruppert is hopeful that her experience with the foster care system will help her lead.
“God works together, everything for good, for those who are called to love him according to his purposes. I’ve taken everything that I learned, both when I worked in the foster care and adoption system, and also just being a foster mom myself. When I wrote the policies and procedures, I wrote the handbook for the building, and it was almost second nature. It just kind of flowed, and thinking about the whole person and how we function in society. Things that I have taught my foster children. Things that I learned when I was in leadership, in the foster care and adoption agency, but also just being a mom and being a human being, kind of all putting it all together,” said Ruppert.
This program is unique because it is designed for single women without kids.
“We’re not an emergency shelter. We cannot accept a woman if she comes up and knocks on our door. We are a long-term facility for unaccompanied women,” said Ruppert. The goal is to break the cycle of homelessness.
“What happens here will all be about 1) meeting the physical homeless needs immediately. 2) Equipping women to move forward and leave this facility self-sufficient. But under the core of everything we do, we want to see women leave here knowing the Lord and walking with him, connected to a local church, and just serving him for the rest of their days,” said Rev. Alan DeFriese.
WAVY’s Kiahnna Patterson took this behind-the-scenes look at the new facility.
To learn more about PRM Women’s Ministry, visit their website here.