Name: The Lighthouse
What: A Christian-based transitional housing facility for women in Janesville. The Lighthouse will be a temporary home for women who have been incarcerated in Wisconsin’s prison system.
To volunteer your time or talents: Send a note to P.O. Box 2443, Janesville, WI, 53547-2443. Include your name and contact information and your area of interest or expertise.
To donate: Write to Tecate Mission International, P.O. Box 1000, Tecate, CA, 91980-1000. Write “The Lighthouse” on your gift. Receipts are available for tax deductions.
For more information: Call (608) 314-5314 or e-mail thelighthousejanesville@hotmail.com.
Sandy Barrette walks down the stairs after touring the second floor of The Lighthouse during an open house on Saturday. She said she will be a neighbor of the new facility for women re-entering life after prison.
June and Bob Skinner look over what will be Stephanie Miller's bedroom during a tour of The Lighthouse, a new Christian-based home that helps women re-enter life after prison. Miller, right, wil be the first resident at the new Janesville facility.
JANESVILLE — She thought she was going to lunch with a friend.
At least that’s what Stephanie Miller told herself.
And why not? She’d been out of prison for three weeks. She’d earned a treat.
But it wasn’t lunch.
In the blink of an eye, Miller found herself using crack cocaine.
Again.
That was last summer.
Today, Miller sees a glimmer of hope coming from The Lighthouse.
Later this month, Miller, 30, will become the first resident at The Lighthouse, a new Christian faith-based ministry in Janesville. The home held an open house and dedication ceremony Saturday afternoon.
The Lighthouse will be a temporary home for women who are getting out of prison and looking to build lives, Director Lisa Ortman said.
Four women at a time will stay at the facility, Ortman said. Volunteers will staff the home around the clock.
Aside from supervising the female residents, volunteers will mentor them and teach some basic life skills such as how to manage a checkbook, fill out a job application, live independently or stay physically fit, Ortman said.
Volunteers will drive residents to local alcohol and drug treatment classes.
Some women, including Miller, might need a ride to school. Miller will start welding classes in the fall at Blackhawk Technical College.
In some cases, it will be even more basic than that, Ortman said.
“Some of these girls don’t know how to be girls,” Ortman said.
Residents will be expected to get a part-time job to help pay for expenses at The Lighthouse. If they can’t find a job, they will be expected to volunteer in the community, she said.
The Lighthouse is located in a private residence. Churches, private donors and local charities have funded the facility’s opening.
The homeowner chose not to share her name with the Gazette. She has volunteered in the Wisconsin prison system and will volunteer at The Lighthouse, she said.
Because the residence is faith-based, women will be expected to attend a church of their choice and to attend bible study classes at The Lighthouse.
Many bible study classes will be open to the public, Ortman said.
Miller thinks the high level of expectations will make a difference this time.
In 2006, Janesville police arrested Miller in connection with two tavern robberies. After the arrest, Miller confessed to robbing Janesville’s Super 8 Motel.
At the time, she told police she was smoking $500 to $800 worth of crack daily. The robberies were a violation of her probation for previous charges of child neglect and receiving stolen property.
Miller told the Gazette she served time at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, the John C. Burke Correctional Center in Waupun and the Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center in Union Grove.
She currently lives at AlcoCare, a treatment facility in Janesville.
Last summer, when Miller got out of prison, she was grateful that her aunt took her in and gave her a place to stay.
Her aunt loved her and still does, Miller said. But that wasn’t enough to battle the voice inside Miller’s head telling her to use cocaine.
She was scared of screwing up during the long months of probation. Even though prison had been a relief from the cycle of stealing money to pay for crack, Miller didn’t want to go back.
She’d had dozens of job applications rejected, and she was thinking her kids were better off where they were: staying with her sister instead of her.
All that negative thinking was taking its toll, Miller said.
“You fall right back into the same thinking,” Miller said. “You think, ‘I’m no good. I’m worthless. I never do anything right.’
It leads you back to that substance where you consume and consume and consume trying to get away from that train of thought.”
At The Lighthouse, Miller expects to be surrounded by a loving group of people who have high expectations for her. She will be close to treatment and to school.
That will help her take her life to the next step, Miller said.
“It’s one thing to get to a place of sobriety,” Miller said. “I know what “sober” is. I’ve been sober. But recovery is a whole different world.”