Mission helps men rebuild their lives

The Opelousas Lighthouse Mission gives homeless men a sanctuary where they can work on rebuilding their lives.
Three leaders discussed the mission of the shelter at 704 W. South St., Opelousas, at the Eunice Kiwanis Club meeting Aug. 20.
Johnny Carriere Jr., executive director, said, “We are an emergency shelter and a transitional living facility. We house men 18 years and older.”
The mission has a main campus and residence in Indian Hills Subdivision in Opelousas that is used as a transitional facility, he said.
The message was often personal.
“Here is a guy just like me a guy who was a drug addict, drug dealer, bottom of the barrel, hurting community,” Carrier said. “Thankfully for me, eight years ago now, God turned my heart around and I’m able to help the same people that struggle with the same stuff I did,”
The program includes housing and provisions, work program, leadership program and faith-based activities, he said.
The mission houses up to 37 men, he said.
“Most of the men, I would say 80 percent of our residents, are coming from jail, prisons, rehabs, hospitals and pysch hospitals,” Carriere said. “The rest, 20 percent or so, are coming off the streets. We are helping in serving men from all around Acadiana and beyond.”
The mission provides men with case work, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, identification cards and permanent housing, he said.
“We are also going to help with their prescription meds, doctor referrals, transportation to and from employment. Guys who struggle with addiction we help get them into rehab. We also do that for people who are outside of our walls as well,” Carriere said.
The mission believes the men should work, he said.
“We believe they need to be working. That is part of the rehabilitation,” he said.
The mission provides job skill training to the men. Men takes labor and skilled jobs, he said.
The jobs include cleaning wild game, he said.
Carriere said the men are given leadership roles in the mission and to make that point he introduced Reggie Nelams, who is serving as the residential director.
Nelams said he came to the mission from prison completely broken.
“I was involved in drugs, heavily, selling, in and out of trouble with the law,” he said.
“The Lighthouse Mission was there for me,” he said. “There there when I needed them. They were there how I needed and I didn’t even know I needed them.”
The mission helped get him in a rehabilitation program, he said.
“This ministry has now turned into what I want to do with my life,” he said. “I want the gospel to be the number one thing. I don’t know of any other homeless shelter that is able to do that.”
Mike Fontenot, the mission’s development director, focused on Hunters for the Hungry, which is scheduled in October. The event ask hunters to donate meat to the shelter.
“We don’t have meat in our budget,” Fontenot said.
“It is a wonderful blessing to be able to feed these guys venison, fish and different things people bring us,” he said.
The mission also accepts any kind of food donation or cash, he said.
Carriere said the mission works with about 160 men annually.
The mission is planning to expand with a new facility that will allow it to house up to 64 men. Construction on the expansion may begin in early to mid-2016, he said.
Contact Harlan Kirgan at eunicetoday.com.