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Rescue Mission benefits from OSP partnership
YOUNGSTOWN
Two years ago, Darnell Coffer was serving time at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown for drug trafficking.
He and three other nonviolent offenders were given the opportunity to volunteer at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley’s kitchen on Christmas in 2016.
Coffer enjoyed helping people so much that once his sentence was complete, he joined the staff part time in January 2017.
“I love this place,” Coffer said. “This has been good for giving back and getting closer to the Lord. This place is a blessing.”
Brad Weber, vice president of the Rescue Mission, said the hardworking OSP volunteers have been a huge help for the shelter.
He explained OSP originally suggested a day of volunteering.
“Then, they started coming three times a week ... and became kind of like staff members,” Weber said.
Weber said the volunteers became increasingly helpful and more comfortable as they got to know the staff and how the Rescue Mission works.
“They became a key component to the mission,” he said.
Aside from regular duties such as cooking for the clients and working in the food pantry, Coffer and the volunteers also painted and even built a shed for the shelter.
“They treated us like humans,” Coffer said of the experience. “They weren’t scared to be around us or acted funny around us; everyone hugged us.”
“There was never a time where the staff felt uncomfortable, and it helped they were so respectful to us,” Weber said.
The program stopped for a short period of time when OSP cut funding for work-release programs, but Weber said he and other shelter administrators advocated for the program to continue, and now the volunteers are back.
“We committed our crimes. This gives us the chance to give back,” Coffer said. “The love they show you makes you want to come here, and it’s a good feeling – makes you think about life differently.”
When Coffer finished his sentence at the end of last year, Weber said the staff unanimously agreed to offer him the job, because he was doing good work and developed close relationships with staff members.
Since Coffer started, he said Weber has always asked if he needed anything.
“I know what it’s like to start over,” explained Weber, who is a former client of the Rescue Mission and a former drug addict.
Coffer is working on becoming certified as a truck driver and said he intends to keep working part time at the mission.