YELM, WASHINGTON (September 7, 2007) – Two recovering addicts who attend Crossroads Community Church have been named Citizens of the Year by the Washington Corrections Association for their ministry that provides transitional housing and services to formerly incarcerated men.
Joseph and Carmin Ottley, co-directors of Truly Motivated Transitional Living, were named the recipients August 22 and will be presented the award during a banquet in Vancouver, Washington, on September 27. The association is a non-profit professional association. According to the association’s website, the award recognizes “an individual or agency not employed in corrections, but who made a major contribution in the field.”
“We’re just being Jesus’ hands and feet,” says Joseph, who once served seven and a half years in a California prison. “He surely has blessed us.”
The award also is a remarkable achievement because the ministry still is only two years old. Working through their church, the Ottleys started the ministry in 2005 and opened the first of two homes that year. A second followed in 2006. Nine men live in one house, and six reside in the other. A third house is slated to open September 10 and will be home to former inmates with mental health disorders. The ministry is now a 501c3 organization.
Joseph says the couple didn’t know they had been nominated until learning they had won. They also were surprised at being nominated by workers with the Department of Corrections.
“I didn’t know they felt that way,” he explains. “It’s very humbling.”
In his nomination letter, Travis Adams, a community re-entry specialist, noted that he had worked with the couple in trying to place high-risk offenders in a clean and sober living environment. “What is so special about the Ottleys is their genuine care and concern for each individual that participates in their program,” Adams wrote.
Another correctional officer wrote, “The Ottleys, the Truly Motivated Transitional Housing, and their sponsors have had a profound impact in this small community and in the lives of the people they have mentored.”
The officer, Dan Cochran, pointed to one experience that illustrates “the exceptional commitment these two people have to this program and the people they touch,” including women offenders.
The Ottleys raised funds so one of Cochran’s offenders could return to Arizona in order to clear a warrant. That enabled her to renew her driver’s license in Washington. Although the woman later relapsed, the couple continued to work with her and still maintains a relationship more than a year later. “She has completed her treatment, is doing well and will likely be gaining custody of her children soon,” Cochran added.
The idea behind the program is simple, says Joseph. He tells the men, “I’m not here to tell you how to live your life. I’m here to show you how I live mine.”
Joseph didn’t always live so well and understands how hard it is to make the transition. In addition to his prison term, he repeatedly went through treatment centers. He later met Carmin in a California rehabilitation center.
Carmin is the daughter of Tom Moline, the executive director of the Covenant Cascades Camp and Conference Center, and his wife, Donna. “When we think of the years we didn’t know where she was half the time, we know what a miracle this is,” Donna says.
The development of the ministry has been a sign of God’s faithfulness and the generosity of others, says Joseph. The new home is a prime example. A couple from outside the church donated the modular house, in which they have lived briefly and who were moving into a larger home they were having built.
The ministry only had to pay the cost of moving the house to the property, where the second house also is located. That land was donated.
“It was God’s timing,” Joseph says.
He hopes the awards will help the ministry as it applies for grants. Part of the ministry already has been funded by grants from Churches Planting Ministries of the Evangelical Covenant Church and the North Pacific Conference, where the Cascades center is located.
Joseph, who shared about the work during one of the evening worship services at the denomination’s Annual Meeting in June, says the ministry hopes to expand by offering a house for women.
The men must pay a monthly residence fee of $480, which includes room, food, utilities, and access to facilities and programs. Joseph says the couple won’t turn people away if they can’t pay. Most of the residents are referred through the Corrections Department, but others are referred by social service agencies and sometimes come off the street. A house manager, who also is in recovery, does a lot of the cooking and helps with the cleaning.
Neighborhoods often fight to keep out transitional homes, but Joseph says, “We have an outstanding reputation in the community.” He notes that the ministry is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. The men frequently help the neighbors with yard work, including landscaping.
The church also has eagerly welcomed the men, Donna says. “The church has been great. It’s also been rewarding for the church.”
In addition to providing housing, the ministry owns meeting space, where recovering individuals can take classes in conflict resolution, the Bible, budgeting, and attend meetings offered by recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. All of the meetings are open to the general public.
