“I had hit rock bottom,” said Robyn. “My problems led me down a path to prison. My family was disgusted with my actions, and I didn’t care about myself.”

That’s when she got a chance to start anew thanks to two programs affiliated with First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge.

Connections For Life offers a 12-month transitional housing and re-entry program to serve women coming from prison, treatment facilities, battered-women’s shelters and other referral agencies.

Their Jacob's Ladder microlending program provides low interest loans on a small scale to eligible entrepreneurs who are seeking to start or grow a small business. This program helps qualified applicants gain the ability to start a business that can potentially support generations to come while fostering economic responsibility and accountability.

Microlending is the practice of giving very small loans to people struggling to  bootstrap themselves out of poverty for good. The idea that a tiny, temporary financial boost can launch people into entrepreneurial self-sufficiency is an attractive one and microlending has received a lot of attention since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize for his Grameen Bank in 2005.

Karen Stagg, board president of Connections for Life, says this program is trying to serve women who have nowhere left to go. “Their spirits are broken, relationships with their families are not intact and they often don’t believe in themselves.We provide the support, care and structure that they need, but the women do all the hard work as they make the journey on their road to recovery,” she said.

“We worked with Robyn to develop a business plan, and with seed money from Jacob’s Ladder, she opened her own business. She currently serves as a mentor for other Connections For Life women who are working to overcome challenges and trying to rebuild their lives. In every way, Robyn always does the right thing,” said Stagg.

As a mother and new entrepreneur, Robyn is passionate about the impact of both programs and its volunteers have had on her life. “Although it was tough, I believe God was acting in my life when I was arrested and sent to prison because I was able to meet Miss Karen. If I can even bring a third of this message out to the world, I am doing something good,” she said. “[These programs] have helped me believe I could surpass the limitations I had set for myself. [These programs] are responsible for helping me be who and what I am today.”

- By Betty Backstrom, Baton Rouge, La.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jacob's Ladder typically refers to a broad range of community development projects that seek to serve locally [Book of Genesis (28:10–19)]. Sometimes these economic, learning, or job-related programs are affiliated with a United Methodist Church; and sometimes they are entirely borne by a United Methodist Church.

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