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Leticia's DispatchLeticia Chavez-Paulette, Executive Director and Co-Founder of A Peaceful Habitation
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Welcome to A Peaceful Habitation’s New Blog! Please look to this blog for updates to our programs, our team, and our women’s community at Donna’s House. We have so much good news about APH this year!
To begin, here’s a little history about Donna’s House. Donna Jennings and I opened Donna’s House in 2005. I had recently been released from Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Grants. I was determined to fill a void in New Mexico for Christian-centered reentry housing for soon-to-be released women. Donna had been a volunteer at ___________ and her passion was to provide housing to recently released, formerly-incarcerated women. We wanted (and still do) to provide love, support, and training to these women. I named the home Donna helped provide “Donna’s House” to honor her legacy and her vision.
At Donna’s House, we provide shelter for five women at a time. We welcome these women home and make every effort to make all of them feel part of the family. Because we only have five women in the house at any given time, we can provide individual attention to their needs in their efforts to transform their lives and become independent. We house the women for six to twelve months, depending on their circumstances and progress.
We help the women get all needed documents and assistance including birth certificates, Social Security cards, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits. We assign the women a mentor. We provide life skills classes to empower every woman in making wise choices in life whether they are related to finances, employment, family, and always spiritually, or all of the above!
We have an ordained pastor available for spiritual guidance and the women attend Bible studies. Many volunteers help us in so much--whether it be transporting our women to appointments or taking them on fun outing--and everything in-between. Sometimes their outings include visits with their families.
We are happy to announce the arrival of new inhabitants coming soon to Donna’s House. We are sure Barbara will welcome the company. Speaking of Barbara, she had a fall recently and broke her shoulder. She is healing well, and her church family is doing all they can to support her. She also got a job! This was pre-fall and she is on leave currently. Sun Van is processing her application so she should soon have her own transportation. She says “hello” to all of you and thanks you for your support and care!
News Flash! Our team has been nominated and selected as 2024’s Behavioral Health Services Division Director Award Winner! New Mexico Behavioral Health Planning Council awards a team serving New Mexico as outstanding members and advocates for behavioral health. This STAR award is an honor and we are extremely grateful to be recognized and honored.
We call one of our programs “Date at the Gate.” We provide two complete outfits including shoes, pants, shirts or blouses, undergarments, and a purse or handbag to women leaving correctional facilities. In January, we sent out 13 shipments to 13 women exiting New Mexico detention centers.
We have two new team members who have joined us! Hallelujah! Tam Davis comes to us from the Goodwill Senior Community Employment Program. She is a volunteer with the program and is with us 20 hours per week. Also joining us is Sherita Roybal. She is also a volunteer and will be assisting our women at Donna’s House a few evening a week providing supervision and company. She is currently a case manager at First Nations providing support to people experiencing substance abuse, homelessness, behavioral health concerns, and more.
As always, we appreciate your support and care for our women and our program. Thank you for keeping Donna’s House open and the lights and heat on and our women progressing on their paths to independence spiritual healing.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:16–17
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