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Restoring lives

A resident follows along during Bible studies at the Restoration House Ministries, a faith-based rehabilitation home for women and girls.
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  • By ERICA RODRIGUEZ - ERODRIGUEZ@VICAD.COM
  • Originally published November 12, 2009 at midnight, updated November 13, 2009 at 4:35 p.m.

  • VICTORIA IRON WORKS THIRD ANNUAL FUN RUN

    When: 9 a.m. Dec. 5

    Where: Victoria Iron Works, 1105 E. Rio Grande St.

    Proceeds benefit Restoration House Ministries and the Salvation Army. Fun run, live music, silent auction, food ...

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    • VICTORIA IRON WORKS THIRD ANNUAL FUN RUN

    When: 9 a.m. Dec. 5

    Where: Victoria Iron Works, 1105 E. Rio Grande St.

    Proceeds benefit Restoration House Ministries and the Salvation Army. Fun run, live music, silent auction, food and drinks. For more information, contact Frank Ardoin 361-782-6790 or Robbie Zissa at 361-580-1025.

    RESTORATION HOUSE THRIFT STORE

    Where: 2907 Catalpa St., Victoria

    Phone: 361-676-3588

    The ministry is accepting donations and volunteers at the thrift store. Washers, dryers, household kitchen items, clothing and more items are accepted. All proceeds to go support the ministry.

Love and family was something 23-year-old Crystal DeLeon had never known before she arrived at Restoration House Ministries in Victoria.

DeLeon was sexually abused when she was 4 years old and began drinking and using drugs when she was 12. Later in her teens, filled with self-hate, she worked as a prostitute.

"I did it because that's what I felt I was worth," she said. "I felt like that was the level I was on. I felt like that's where I belong."

At age 18, she was kidnapped and gang-raped in Laredo. She later spent time in jail on a drug charge but continued using.

"I didn't know how to cope." she said. "I didn't know how to be just me without the drugs."

After multiple suicide attempts, DeLeon decided to change her life.

The home

Bibles, neat beds and Christian literature fill Restoration House, a Christian-based rehabilitation home. The soft smell of scented candles welcomes the women as they mingle during free time.

The home is small. Theresa Klacman, a single mother, former drug user and victim of child abuse, began it last October for women who believe they have nowhere else to turn.

"I don't want any woman here to feel like they don't have a choice," Klacman said.

Here, women who are abused, neglected or former drug users go through a free, six-month program for one purpose: to change their lives.

"Once you come here and finish your six months, you're not going to be able to go back to your old lifestyle," said Jennifer Martinez, a current resident who now leads a peer group. "Once you're restored, you have a different thought pattern and you make different choices."

Why it works

The focus of the home is to rehabilitate women spiritually from the inside out. The women pray daily and have guided group Bible studies. They eat dinner together, laugh and even receive professional counseling.

Desiree Rodriguez, 14, eats a pickle and Hot Cheetos with the residents, women who she calls sisters.

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever come to a place like this," she said. Dark scars on her forearms testify to suicide attempts and a troubled childhood. "I never saw myself having a loving home and a loving family," she said. "I thought my life was over already."

A suicide attempt in July landed her in the hospital without a family member who cared.

"CPS called my dad and he said. 'Let her die. I don't want her,'" she remembers.

Klacman, who does not usually accept minors in the home, now has power of attorney over Rodriguez.

Her story, like those of DeLeon and Martinez, changed completely when she learned to forgive and love through the ministry.

"While you're here, it's a safe environment and a place for you to get in touch with who you are with God," DeLeon said. "It has to start in your heart before it can spread anywhere else."

What the future holds

Klacman can only house four women in the home now, but is planning a $90,000 expansion in the coming months. The expansion will create a two-story building and will house 16 women.

"God said 'do it,' and I said 'OK,'" she said.

LifePointe Church in Victoria has already donated the initial labor and materials. She is planning fundraisers to help raise some money, but for the rest Klacman said she is relying on God to provide.

"We're just stepping out on faith," she said. "We're just going to continue to move forward as if we had $90,000 in the bank."

Coming full circle

Visible tattoos on DeLeon's body testify to her past, something that no longer haunts here. DeLeon will tell you the ministry has saved her life and if she'd never come, she'd probably be back in jail.

"When I was here, I got to learn how it was to have a family who really cares for you," DeLeon said. "I got to know how it was to be loved unconditionally not just by God, but by a person."

DeLeon's life has come full circle in the last year. She is no longer using drugs and hopes to attend school in the spring and become a graphic designer.

She is happily married and a new miracle in her life is growing.

"I had doctors tell me because of all the scarring and tearing and the raping I would never have children," she said.

She is now four months pregnant.

"I have seriously been reborn," she said.


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