By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A community outreach program is working to help men recovering from addiction, incarceration, and homelessness.
The Crossing, an Urban Missions Campus, began in 2018 as an emergency homeless shelter, and has evolved to provide several programs helping the St. Joseph community.
Executive Director Roger Lenander says the Re-Entry program, as it’s known, helps up to 12 men who have suffered get reacclimated into the community.
"They come in for a minimum of 150 days and they will maintain full employment, there is a zero tolerance for use of any substance or alcohol," Lenander tells host of the KFEQ Hotline Barry Birr. "But it's to provide support, it's not just providing a place to live."
Men in the program are required to hold full time employment and also pay rent, which supports the program, helping them learn the importance of being a good tenant.
Lenander says the program also provides are a part of recovery and entering into a community
"One of the things is they're coming from places where they've either been self-destructive or other things have happened in their lives and they're working to rebuild that trust," Lenander explains. "How do you build and maintain healthy relationships; how do you discourage unhealthy relationships and begin to set up new boundaries."
Lenander says the Re-Entry program launched in 2021 focusing on homelessness and incarceration victims.
But at the start of this year Lenander says a partnership was formed with a group called Denovo, that works with people who suffer from addiction
"As they came out is that they were desiring to stay sober, so the zero tolerance, but again this program looks like it's going to fit because what I need is a long term thing, it's not a short term fix," Lenander says.
The program is also seeking volunteer help. For more information you can contact The Crossing offices.