Priscilla’s Place
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Another Basic Needs Drive at Southeast sounds routine—even insignificant—until you know how much those bags filled with shampoo, tooth brushes and toothpaste, bar soap, deodorant and laundry
detergent mean to someone who gets them. Once they are picked up behind cars in the parking lot, volunteers get them in the hands of partners in the community within a few days.
They go to homeless shelters, church pantries in urban areas and to faith-based ministries like Priscilla’s Place, a residential treatment center for women battling addictions to drugs and alcohol, and Open
Door of Hope, a shelter in Shelbyville.
Paula Schaeffer does not know who bought the toothpaste and shampoo she used a Priscilla’s Place, but she does know somone cared enough to buy it for her.
When Schaeffer arrived at Priscilla’s Place near downtown Louisville on Nov. 6, 2009, she’d been a drug addict for 24 years, often trying to break free on her own. It never worked. She was in jail when
members of a nearby church talked with her about Teen Challenge, a faith-based, residential recovery program.
“Things began to change for me at Priscilla’s Place because the key to breaking free is surrendering everything to the Lord,” Schaeffer said. “I couldn’t do it on my own. My family couldn’t do it for me. I learned
that freedom comes from setting your face on Him.”
Schaeffer graduated from the Teen Challenge program last spring. Now she is in an internship program to help others who deal with addictions.
Rebecca Henslee, director of Priscilla’s House, said the Basic Needs Drive eases the pressure of trying to provide for women who come to Priscilla’s Place with nothing.
“What others buy for a month only lasts a week here. We have 10 lades plus our live-in staff and go through supplies every single day,” Henslee said. “We don’t function out of worry. We function out of faith,
but knowing the storage area is full means we can put all of our attention on ministering to the needs of individuals who need healing, deliverance and life change.”
It’s a day to day battle at Priscilla’s Place. Since it was founded in 1958 by Rev. David Wilkerson, the ministry has grown to include 180 centers throughout the United States as well as 300 centers in over 40
other countries.
Henslee fields 30 to 75 calls a week from around the state in every direction. The 10 beds available at Priscilla’s Place are full 100 percent of the time. Right now, there are 18 women on the waiting list and
there is no opening until November. Henslee knows that long waits are dangerous for those in crisis.
“Our ability to help is limited by space. If they don’t get help now, two months from now we may not be able to help them,” she said. “We have a 75 percent success rate because of the fact that our women
encounter God’s power as they go through the healing process.”
Other packets from the Basic Needs Drive go to Rev. Lee Bean, who in addition to being the pastor at Dover Baptist Church in Shelby County, also runs a homeless shelter in Shelbyville.
“Ninety percent of the men who come to us are dealing with drugs and alcohol,” he said. “There was nothing in Shelby County for men who are homeless.”
The shelter, Open Door of Hope, is open from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m.
“We would not be able to operate if others didn’t help us with personal care items,” Bean said. “We are so grateful to get those things, and so are the men. ”