'Cycles can be broken'

In seven years, Welcome to a New Life has grown to a nonprofit organization with a staff of four. They have paired 114 formerly incarcerated individuals with mentors to help them change their lives. And the momentum just keeps increasing. The nonprofit organization's mission is to provide mentorship and resources for adults in the criminal justice system to help them live crime-free, drug-free, productive lives. Each of these adults is paired with a mentor, whose role is simply to meet up with them and be their friend. When someone is released from prison, there are a lot of appointments in their life that are mandatory, said Executive Director Carla Benjamin. They must show up for court, or probation meetings. "This is an at-will program, where they have made the decision that enough is enough," she said. "They really want to make that change in their life, but they can't do it alone." So, the mentor meets with them to offer support and encouragement. Over the years, the organization has seen mentees get their driver's licenses and purchase vehicles, get promotions at work and be reunited with their children. Several mentees are celebrating more than five years of sobriety. Many are going back to school to get their chemical dependency counselor assistant (CDCA) credential, so they can help others. In addition to these milestones, the Welcome to a New Life leadership are also seeing changes in the everyday behavior of mentees. Benjamin said she always tells herself and her staff, "Take the pause." That is, take a moment to breathe before immediately firing off an angry email. She has seen mentees pick up that term as well. She recalled one mentee come into the office, "head down, so upset with himself," after a relapse. But he also told the staff he already had reached out and secured a spot in a treatment facility. They told him, "I'm proud of you," because he responded to the relapse by immediately working to get back on track. And when others say, "I'm proud of you," "it makes it easier for you to start forgiving yourself, and giving yourself love," Benjamin said. A Welcome to a New Life mentor "is the one person not paid to be in your life… This is someone showing up because they love you," said Kim Thomas, board president. The mentor's role is literally to be the person's friend, to build a relationship and get to know them and be there for them. Mentors meet mentees for coffee, and show up at their court dates. Benjamin said many of the mentees are used to "tit for tat" relationships. "To have someone who's saying, 'I really am just going to meet you for coffee because I really do want to just get to know you and I want to walk alongside you' – at first, sometimes, some of our mentees are like, 'Really?' They're a little bit reserved," Benjamin said. "But then when you keep showing up, I think that's when that relationship kind of takes that turn, like, 'OK, this is real.'" Thomas added that many of the mentees don't have a lot of family support. If they can't ask their parents for advice, the mentor may serve in that role as well – sometimes perhaps gently pointing out that the choices the mentee is making may not be leading them in the right direction, but always saying it "out of a place of love." Research has shown that relationship-based practices help individuals stay connected to treatment, she said. The others in their life will check in and ask how treatment is going, or help them navigate the system when they aren't sure who to call. The ultimate goal, Benjamin said, is "How can we help you find and be the best version of yourself?" Benjamin added that mentors consistently report that they are getting as much out of the relationship as the mentee. They also start to realize how, with one wrong choice, "this could be our life." The relationships become true friendships, Benjamin said. Harold "Puck" Rowe recalled getting a call several years ago from Stan Kujawa, asking to meet for lunch. That lunch would lead to the two co-founding Welcome to a New Life. Kujawa had been volunteering at the jail for his church and kept hearing that inmates would be released, then re-arrested, over and over. He wanted to find a way to break the cycle. Rowe said he wasn't sure at first that the community would be on board. But as they spoke with other community leaders, particularly those working in the criminal justice system, "we got 100% support and encouragement… We had to help these people," he said. Rowe said so many people helped with the creation of the organization and have helped since, from donors to board members. "But the heroes in this program" are the mentors, who meet with mentees one on one to help them build better lives. "I do think it's a community collaboration, and it requires everybody to be supportive of different pieces and parts," Thomas said. Welcome to a New Life recently launched a pilot program in Fostoria, with two mentors working with residents of the Hancock County portion of that city. The organization's 2025 impact report states that their work with mentees led to a 69% reduction in incarcerations, for a total of about 12,000 jail days avoided, saving the county more than $1.6 million in public dollars that would be spent on incarceration. "People make bad choices, poor choices. That doesn't define you for the rest of your life," Thomas said. "And how do we bring down that stigma to say, you made a choice, you have consequences, but here's a pathway to make a different decision the next time? You're more than the sum of those past choices." Thomas said one recent highlight for the organization was being able to grow to a paid staff of four. Besides Benjamin, this includes Jayme Barfell, mentor network coordinator; Alyssa Sharninghouse, administrative assistant; and Karen Wood, mentee advocacy coordinator. Wood was herself a mentee in the program, before being a mentor. "When she's doing those jail visits, when she's having those conversations with people, she's like, 'I know. I've been there. I get it,'" Benjamin said. "So, all of those things that sometimes come to people's minds, she can give clarity in a whole different way than I would." The organization's office on West Main Cross Street has comfortable spaces to sit and meet, and signs with inspirational sayings like, "You are amazing," and "Say no to drugs, say yes to pizza." A "sobriety tree" lists the sobriety anniversaries of many of the mentees. The organization also sends out "Motivation Monday" messages to Hancock County residents who are currently incarcerated. "So we're touching them before they're even going to come back to our community…. We want them to know that we care," Benjamin said. Many of those involved in the organization are motivated by mentors they have had in their own lives. "I think all of us could talk about somebody in our family who had this incredible impact, and not everyone had that opportunity," Thomas said. "And so this is that opportunity, to love on someone in our community." Benjamin said her father was able to turn his own life around in part because "he had a wonderful pastor that loved on him as a mentor." She saw how her father changing his life created ripples in the rest of the family. So, when she saw that Welcome to a New Life was looking for its first executive director, it felt like the work she was called to do. "Cycles can be broken, and people's lives can change," she said.