Women pray to recover from their addictions

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By Kay Luna | Sunday, January 27, 2008 5:11 AM CST | () comments

Doris Nazario, left, one of the pastors at the New Life for Women home in rural Henry County, Ill,, gives Wanda Brunk a hug. Brunk, 51, was rescued from a life on the streets of Chicago,“graduated” from the program and is now a member of the farmhouse staff. (Larry Fisher/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

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CAMBRIDGE, Ill. — For two years, Wanda Brunk struggled to exist on the tough streets of Chicago, feeding her addiction to crack cocaine and other illicit drugs.

She slept on whatever she found in the trash.

She wallowed in her life’s mistakes.

Then, a church van began visiting the homeless camp where she stayed on Lower Wacker Drive, giving out food and encouraging words. They told her about a rural Illinois farm where she could go to overcome her addictions and get her life back in order with God.

After many visits, the 51-year-old Brunk remembers the exact date — Aug. 14, 2005 — when her aching heart was ready to listen.

“I saw the van coming and I said, ‘There are my people. They’re coming to get me,’ ” she says.

Standing in the dimly lit street, Brunk prayed with one of the church women, Doris Nazario, and then climbed inside the van.

Soon, the Du Page County native found herself living along with several other women in an old farmhouse, situated on 15 acres along Illinois 82 in rural Cambridge, about 30 miles east of the Quad-Cities.

The farm is where troubled women with addictions to drugs and alcohol can get help through the New Life for Women program, led by a church that describes itself as one of Chicago’s fastest-growing congregations — New Life Covenant Ministries.

Its location, in what some might call the middle of nowhere, is one of the reasons the program is so successful, said Nazario, a “graduate” and now one of the pastors.

“That’s the point, to give them time to reflect on themselves and God,” she said on a recent day at the farm, where the view of a barren field was framed in a window behind her. “You get distracted by the hustle and bustle of the city. Out here, it’s just them and God.”

Since the program began five years ago, 35 women have graduated. Of those, 21 are still clean, she said.

“We do keep in touch with many and try to have a yearly reunion with the ladies,” she added.

From city to farm

At the farm, there are no animals other than a couple of dogs, so there are no real farm chores to be done. But the women adhere to a strict schedule consisting mainly of prayer, Bible studies and household duties, with lights out by 9:30 p.m. daily.

The staff is made up solely of church leaders and volunteers, not substance abuse counseling professionals. The program is run through donations only.

Volunteers occasionally come in to lead crafts and computer classes, and the residents usually get help with resumé writing during their stays, Nazario said.

They can write letters, but they are allowed to use the telephone only once a month.

Mostly, their therapy is reading the Bible and plotting out the course for the rest of their lives, Nazario said.

“All the women need to do is be willing to change,” she said, prompting an “Amen” from a fellow pastor, Alice Altiery. “If you’re willing, great things will happen.”

Until recently, all of the women lived dormitory-style inside the rambling, more-than-100-year-old farmhouse where the program’s three pastors also live.

But two weeks ago, the first group of women arrived in Cambridge to stay in a new annex building, named “Alice’s House” after Altiery. The annex expanded the program’s capacity from seven to about 20 women at a time.

Women do not have to be members of New Life Covenant church to enter the program. They simply need to be “a woman in need,” said Nazario, adding that she spends part of her time recruiting women from the Chicago streets, jails and detoxification centers.

Nine women are enrolled in the program at this time. A new group is expected to arrive in July.

The first phase of the program is held at the Chicago Dream Center, which is another ministry the church runs.

That phase lasts up to five months, and it is the time when the women “get back to normal conditions,” taking care of any health issues and court dates before going to the farm, Nazario said.

“We try to establish a routine lifestyle,” she said. “They live there, have classes.”

The next phase is at the farm, which also lasts five months.

“Here, you have to be willing to be stripped of self-will,” she said.

When that is over, the women return to the Dream Center for another five months or less. That is when they prepare to return home and face the temptations that could draw them back into a bad lifestyle, she said.

Donations build, sustain program

Church leaders believe God led them to this Henry County, Ill., location many years before it became available.

Nazario said that when the program’s main resident pastors, Rico and Alice Altiery, were in the early years of their long marriage, Rico got hooked on drugs and ended up incarcerated.

Someone encouraged Alice to go to Indiana and volunteer at a farm, similar to the one in rural Cambridge, where troubled women lived. She stayed for 15 months.

Thirty years later, she mentioned that to her pastor. A week later, a church member — a niece of the man that used to own the Henry County property — called to say, “I’m selling my farm.”

All of the pieces suddenly fell into place, Nazario said.

“They just knew,” she said. “It was all God.”

The property was purchased with church members’ donations in 2002, and New Life for Women has run there quietly ever since.

The opening of “Alice’s House” in November prompted many from the surrounding communities to visit and see what happens there. One of those people was Debby Ivey, a substitute teacher in the Geneseo schools and a member of First United Methodist Church in Geneseo.

Ivey said she had heard about New Life for Women five years ago, but she became reacquainted this fall when her volunteer job as a church committee member led her to look for a ministry to help. She was impressed by what she found.

“What they’re doing is an awesome, awesome thing,” she said. “I listen to these ladies talk — these ladies have been on the streets — and I could just sit there and listen forever. You can see Jesus in their faces.”

Two weeks ago, when a new group of women arrived to live in the new annex, the building was furnished with little more than beds, dressers and racks to hold clothes.

The next morning, Ivey pulled up in a van, bringing a toaster, potholders, skillets, plates, dishes, silverware and much more — all donated by her fellow church members.

“It was everything you’d need for the kitchen,” Nazario said. “We couldn’t believe it.”

Because the program is church-based, it does not receive government funding that would limit its religious bent. The program relies on donations of money, food, furniture and volunteer time to sustain itself, she said.

“God’s been good to me ...”

For all of the positive things that happen through the program — the donations and life changes — the glory goes to God, added Brunk, who still lives at the farm, only now as a staff member.

She graduated from the program in 2006 and then stayed on board as a volunteer before she was hired to help lead other women.

She lives in a dorm room at the annex, furnished simply with a set of bunk beds and a dresser. It’s a much better life than living on the streets — or in prison, she said.

Illinois Department of Corrections records show that Brunk served time for theft and residential burglary from 2001 to 2003. She was released on parole in 2003 and then was discharged from parole in March 2005, just a few months before climbing into the church van that she says changed her life.

Brunk’s greatest regret is that her addictions caused her to lose track of her children: two sons, 32 and 13, and a daughter, 16. She was able to find one of them in Clinton, Iowa, but she has no idea where the others live, and it breaks her heart.

“I believe God will reunite me with them somehow,” she said, a smile creeping across her face. “God is so awesome and merciful. God’s been good to me my whole life.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.

WHO IS BEHIND THIS MINISTRY?

The religious-based New Life for Women program, geared toward women recovering from addictions to drugs and alcohol or living a life of prostitution, is one of many ministries led by a church that considers itself one of the fastest-growing congregations in Chicago.

New Life Covenant Ministries church, which calls itself “A Church for the Hurting,” is located at 1665 N. Mozart St. The church — with about 4,000 members — is affiliated with the Pentecostal religion, said Doris Nazario, a pastor who helps run the women’s program for the church.

The church also runs the Chicago Dream Center, which oversees the women’s program that includes a five-month residential phase on a farm near Cambridge, Ill., and other outreach efforts. The center is at 1666 N. California Ave., Chicago, with dormitories at 1734 N. California Ave.

There are many other Dream Centers across the country, as well, Nazario said.

For Wilfredo De Jesus, senior pastor at New Life Covenant Ministries, the women’s program is one of his top priorities among more than 90 ministries the church oversees. De Jesus said he travels the nation, making people aware of the resource.

“It is a dire need here in Chicago, and across the country,” he said. “Women get into drugs or prostitution, and they need a safe haven.”

The New Life for Women program is the only ministry the church runs in a rural setting, and the location is “a very big component” of its success, he said.

“I think for us, it’s to take them out of the havoc of the city, to take them where they have a different environment — take them to God’s country,” he said. “That’s important for us.”

For more information about the church, go online to mynewlife.org or call (773) 384-7113. For more information about the Chicago Dream Center, go online to mydreamcenterchicago.org or call (773) 384-2200.

If you want to volunteer at the Henry County farm or donate items for the cause, call (309) 944-0277.

HOW THE NEW LIFE FOR WOMEN PROGRAM WORKS

Until last year, the New Life for Women program operated only from a farm in rural Cambridge, Ill., about 30 miles east of the Quad-Cities. Now, the program is set up in three phases, beginning and ending in Chicago. Here is how it works:

PHASE ONE — Women addicted to drugs or alcohol or struggling to leave prostitution go to the New Life Covenant Ministries Chicago Dream Center, which oversees several

programs — including the women’s program at the farm.They stay at the center for up to five months, taking care of any health or legal issues while they “get back to normal

conditions,” said Doris Nazario, one

of the pastors with the program.

PHASE TWO — This is when the women move to the farm, where they live for five months, getting their lives in order with God, Nazario said. They spend most of their days doing Bible studies, along with other classes to help them let go of former lifestyles. They have limited contact with people from the city,

getting the privilege to use the phone only once a month. They adhere to a strict schedule of studies and chores.

PHASE THREE — The women return to the Dream Center for another stretch of up to five months, preparing them to return home and face temptations. Staffers help prepare them for job searches and other tasks.

PERSONAL STORIES

Teen focuses on her commitment to God

The 19-year-old girl wears pigtails in her hair and carries a Bible.

On her ring finger rests a wedding set she calls a “purity ring,” which, she says, represents her absolute commitment to God.

For Destiney Contreras, that is her main focus.

The teen traveled in July from San Bernadino, Calif., arriving first in Chicago and then at the farm in rural Henry County, Ill.

Before she arrived, she was using methamphetamine and marijuana, and drinking — a lot. The trip probably saved her life, she says.

“I came to that point of rock bottom,” she said. “I didn’t want to live anymore. I became suicidal and depressed.”

Her pastor paid to fly her to the Midwest, just to take part in New Life Ministries’ outreach, which helps women recover from addictions to drugs and alcohol.

After five years, Contreras is the youngest person to ever go through the program.

Doris Nazario, one of the pastors who work at the farm, describes her as someone with “an amazing story.”

— Kay Luna

Graduate of program annointed a pastor

Doris Nazario still tears up, all these years later, when she talks about her journey.

The 53-year-old Chicago native has four children, and she was married for 20 years. The marriage was not good, she says, and her husband was unfaithful.

“It took its toll on me,” she said. “I got introduced to drugs, and that was my escape.”

She favored crack cocaine and heroin. Her addiction escalated over 17 years.

In the 17th year, she became homeless.

She lived in her car and used to park in front of a Chicago church because the area was well-lit.

“Then my car got towed, and I was in the street,” she said. “It was crazy.”

One day, she saw a woman moving boxes. She asked the lady what she was doing and was told she was going to a farm to sober up.

At that point, Nazario was sleeping in parks or wherever she could. Nazario asked whether she could come to the farm, too.

But there was no room for her at the time.

Soon enough, however, a woman came looking for her in the streets, saying someone had dropped out of the program. There was a spot for Nazario at the farm, if she still wanted to go.

She left with the woman, who took her to a Chicago church — the very one where she used to park her car.

Nazario went through the New Life for Women program in 2002 and has been clean since. After returning as a volunteer, she was hired onto the staff to help other women coming into the program.

In December, she was anointed a pastor, she said.

“I surrendered and I came to the Lord,” she said. “Just marvelous things have happened.”

Some of the most marvelous? Relationships with her children — a son, 32; a daughter, 28; and twins, 22 — have been restored, she said.

Photos of her children and, now, her grandchildren fill Nazario’s bedroom at the farm. She sometimes sings, prays and talks aloud to the photos, she admits, laughing at the thought.

—Kay Luna