USD Magazine, Summer 2001

IRST, CARMEN WARNER-ROBBINS WAS TRAINED TO HEAL THE BODY. NOW THE 1982 NURSING graduate is hard at work to heal the soul. Warner-Robbins, a former emergency care nurse and an ordained minister, is founder and president ofWelcome Home Ministries, an Oceanside-based

in 1995 to be ordained by Grace Ministries International, an organ– ization that focuses on the poor, imprisoned and homeless. "The Methodist Church puts you where they need you," she says."I heard a calling and decid– ed to do what Jesus did and go among the people." Warner-Robbins volunteered to minister to inmates at the Vista (Calif.) Detention Facility

Faith L. Portrc,,tf Convictio o/Her Giving f rmer prison inmates a second chance at life

The Rev. Carmen Warner-Robbins (right) welcomes a woman to her ministry.

on a donated budget of $5,000. Then, close to the deadline for applications, the group heard about Davis' initiative to allocate funds to faith-based organizations for job training and other employment services for people with criminal backgrounds, the first such program in the nation. Due to the grant, both men and women with criminal records now will be served.Warner– Robbins says each ex-inmate who expresses an interest will receive an assessment to determine spe– cific-job-related aptitudes. Once employers identify the types of jobs they need filled , the former prisoners will then be trained to fit those needs. daughter, Kaitlyn Elizabeth, 2.. .. Daniel Fitzgerald recently moved to Thousand Oaks, Calif., to work for Giant Bicycles, running its credit department. Prior to that he spent 10 years as a manager at Fisherman's Landing in San Diego.. .. Hillary Hobel received her M.B.A. from the University of Denver and now is a partner in a real estate business,

"It is so

group that helps women make t he transition from incarceration to society. Since 1996, some 250 women have passed through the Welcome Home program with a recidivism rate of only 6 percent - a fact not lost on California Gov. Gray Davis.Welcome Home recently received a $180,000 grant from the state to develop job training and other employ– ment opportunities for former prisoners. "Most of these women get released from jail with nowhere to go and no one to help them;• Warner-Robbins says. "We're here to be that someone." Planning to be a Methodist minister,Warner-Robbins opted and starring her own business. "In the game of life, I feel like a winner," she writes. ... William Scheibner Jr. is vice consul in Istanbul, Turkey, with the U.S. Foreign Service. His wi fe of eight years, Elizabeth, passed away in November afi:er a six-month battle with cancer.

and the Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee, Calif. Calling upon her t raining as a nurse, she began to organize the effort to help women adjust to life after incarceration. "We had to figure out what the women needed - clothes, a place to sleep, employment that matched their aptitudes - and a way to get it to them." she says. 'Then we had to do some dis– charge planning, kind of like when a patient is released from the hospital, to create a support structure outside the jail to help prevent them from falling into old behaviors." Warner-Robbins and a small staff of volunteers struggled by

glorious to see lives turned

around," Warner-Robbins says. "One woman here had 400 run- ins with the law since the age of 12, and now she's a counselor at a sobriety services center. Another was once considered the drug queen of North County, and now she's clean and sober, working full time and doing very well. Almost all of the women at Welcome Home are in some fo rm of school. It is truly a mira– cle to see God's love at work."

1991 UNDERGRADUATE

selli ng second homes and invest– ment property in Vail, Colo... . David Huizenga is an attorney in Atlanta, where he lives with his wife, Carina, and their two daugh– ters, Helena, 7, and Hannah, 5.... Debra K. Wallace is perm issions editor for Harcourt e-Learning in Monterey, Calif.

Diana (Schumacher) Brictson (M.Ed. '93) moved from Leawood, Kan. , to Greensboro, N.C., in October with her son, Ford Allen, 1, and husband Derik. ... Cynthia (Brienza) Dibsie is a paralegal and lives just outside of Ph iladelphia with her husband, Greg, and their

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SUMMER 2001