Religious-centered halfway house opens in Charles City

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

A new resource to help women in need has opened its doors in Charles City.

Magdalene’s Light is a transitional living space designed to help struggling women get back on their feet by providing religious counseling and a safe place to stay as they recover from crisis.

“We’ve been working on this for quite a while,” said board member Theresa Jenkins.

Originally conceived in southern Minnesota, plans to develop this kind of transitional home struggled to gain traction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It took three-and-a-half years to get the 501(c)(3) status,” said board member Kelly Kittleson.

By the time the original organization was ready to go, many of its members had moved on, prompting it to be rebuilt from the ground up last October by a new group of people with Charles City connections.

By April the new board had found a house on Ferguson Street suitable for its purposes and has since then been working on turning it into a transitional living home.

“It just needed cosmetics, but it needed a lot of cosmetics,” said Kittleson.

The home is intended to help women bridge the gap between recovering from crisis and reestablishing themselves in society, such as those coming out of drug rehabilitation centers.

“They’ve gotten all the help they need, but then they’re on their own without the resources they need,” said Jenkins. “Whatever their needs are, we’ll try to meet them.”

Along with providing a place to live, the home will offer residents lessons on essential life skills such as cooking, budgeting and self-defense, along with assistance in finding employment.

As a Christian organization, residents are required to attend regular Bible studies and church services as a condition of staying in the home.

“We feel a relationship with Jesus Christ helps seal the recovery process,” said Jenkins.

Residents will have to pay a fee to stay in the home, though Jenkins says they are looking for donors willing to offer scholarships to help cover those expenses.

“Hopefully within six months they’re ready to be out on their own,” said board member Mark Jenkins.

With four bunks in two bedrooms, the house has the capacity to serve up to eight women at a time. Jenkins says that they estimate they will need about four or five at any given point to break even on the bills.

The board hosted an open house on Sunday to show the community the work that has been done on the building and that they are ready to welcome residents.

“We’ve had two or three calls already,” said Jenkins. “We are ready for ladies.”