‘Lives are transformed’: Addiction recovery program celebrates 50 years – York Dispatch

Inside the nonprofit giving a 'new life for girls'

New Life For Girls is celebrating 50 years in York County this year.

Tina Locurto, York Dispatch

Tabitha Pacheco was certain if she could just move away from her toxic life in New Jersey, that things would get better.

She would stop using heroin. She would seek the help she needed. Moving to Pennsylvania was her answer.

Unfortunately, the things she strived for didn't happen.

I got myself into trouble here, Pacheco said. I got a DUI with my kids in the car, and I wound up in Cumberland County Prison.

Thats where she first heard about New Life For Girls but Pacheco initially didnt want anything to do with it.

The 12-month-long Christian-taught rehabilitation program provides housing for women struggling with addiction. Strict rules like no phone use and limited time off the property make it challenging for those first entering.

But, after Pacheco messed up over and over again she finally gave the program a try.

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New Life For Girls is celebrating 50 years in York County this year. Rehabilitation comes in the form of counseling, GED prep courses, self-discipline and academic, vocational and work ethics training.

The program requires students to live in dorm-style rooms with multiple roommates. Women with children are welcome, too, and are offered private living accommodations.

When Pacheco first got to New Life For Girls, it was just herself and her two daughters.

It's me and my two little broken girls, because I was a mess, Pacheco said. I'd be in the chapel at night crying out, God, please help me to be a better mother.

Depending on the severity of substance abuse, many women will first complete programming at an introduction center to wean off drugs or alcohol before even coming to New Life For Girls.

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They will then be required to complete the 12-month course before moving to graduation into the Reentry and Observation Program.

This program offers more luxuries for women who finish the 12 months. Though Reentry and Observation is not mandatory, many women chose to stay at New Life For Girls in order to find housing, secure a job and figure out their life plan.

While women are not allowed to leave the property on their own, staff members organize group shopping trips and accompany women to visit family members. Program students are also able to use recreation facilities like the basketball courts or stroll around the property, Pacheco said.

In addition, New Life For Girls has a nursery for young children. Faculty members take care of children while their mothers attend classes and complete chores until 4 p.m., when the mothers take over to be with their kids.

Children who are school-aged get picked up by a bus to attend Northeastern School District. Currently, there are children as young as five months and as old as eight years living at the facility.

New Life For Girls was founded in 1972 by Cookie Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was addicted to drugs while living in New York City. She eventually sought help from Teen Challenge Ministry a program at the time offered primarily to men.

After getting clean, Rodriguez felt compelled to open a program specifically for women, according to New Life For Girls Executive Director Jos Pacheco.

"She saw that there was a need to be able to get these women out of the city of New York, out of their environment, and bring them somewhere," he said. "They ended up in York County."

Jos Pacheco started working at New Life For Girls 49 years ago. He is retiring Oct. 1 and will be replaced by current assistant director Kathy Kelly Brown.

There is a $140 one-time processing fee for women who first join. If a woman is unable to pay, however, the fee is waived.

Financial support for New Life For Girls primarily comes from donations from individuals, groups and churches.

Tabitha Pacheco, who first came to New Life For Girls out of prison, now works for the organization overseeing the prison ministry.

She found a new life within the program and, ultimately, a life partner as well. After she graduated, she returned and married the program's director.

"I get to work in the prisons where I came from," Pacheco said. "I get to speak at the same prison New Life From Girls got me from. They let me in and out of the doors freely and so it's just really cool and like a complete turnaround for me."

Many faculty working at New Life For Girls at one point were involved in the program themselves Like Pacheco and Brown.

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"I was a functioning, dysfunctional person. Just broken and empty on the inside until I found out about the program," Brown said. "New Life For Girls gave me a sense of purpose and a passion for other people and there was no looking back."

Some say New Life For Girls is like a "fishbowl" environment, Brown said.

She referenced a common expression said at the nonprofit "sandpaper sisters."

"We kind of rub up against each other the good, the bad and the ugly," Brown said. "I always tell the ladies, you make me better and I make you better."

On the 27-acre property sits a Christian cross-shaped building where all students in the program eat, sleep and learn.

Sounds of nature and the soft rustle of trees mix with lectures being taught and lives reshaping.

"This is a mountain where miracles take place," Brown said. "Lives are transformed."

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'Lives are transformed': Addiction recovery program celebrates 50 years - York Dispatch