TUMBLEWEED, a past project. A need for something similar definitely still exists. Meanwhile, this is a bit of history:
For 18 years, from 1983 to 2001, Pat and Waltera were chaplains at Pine Grove Women’s Correctional Centre. Over the years it became clear that many women were trapped in a “revolving door”. They would find freedom from victimization and stress while behind bars even though their other freedoms were restricted, but when they were released they would have to return to their original dysfunctional surroundings. Sooner or later they would be back in jail.
In the spring of 1997 we established a home for women newly released from Pine Grove. We called it “Tumbleweed” because so many women we knew were tossed about by the “winds” of circumstance, abuse, and difficult living situations. We hoped that the “wind” of God’s Spirit would blow them in a good direction, and that they would find a haven at Tumbleweed long enough to be able to take charge of their own lives.
Each person who came to Tumbleweed could stay there for a length of time from one month to one year while she made her plans and took steps to find a stable living situation. A couple agreed to run the home while paying minimal rent for their private area of the house
In January 1999 Pat took over as “house mother” at our Tumbleweed project. Funding for the home was difficult since Social Assistance provided only $180 per person per month to cover room and board and all personal expenses. When one woman on federal parole came to live there for six months her federal allowance made it possible to cover the costs for that period of time.
Between January and August of that year thirteen women made Tumbleweed their transitional home. As far as we know, only three of these women ever re-offended and returned to jail. Our “Tumbleweed Project” was a success.
When Waltera was diagnosed with breast cancer and her mother, who had moved to Prince Albert, suffered a stroke, we could no longer maintain this project.
