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Changing the way society heals

Devin Heilman | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 3 months AGO
by Devin Heilman
| July 27, 2015 9:00 PM

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<p>Crew chief Adam Lyden rips a length of lumber in LightWorks Post Falls location during construction on a tiny house.</p>

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<p>Frank Genetti, chief executive officer for LightWorks, shows the organization’s new facility in Post Falls.</p>

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series that discusses LightWorks, an innovative, self-sustaining, for-profit company that offers hope to at-risk individuals who are coming out of substance abuse rehabilitation, prison, overcoming disabilities or just want to break free of poverty and homelessness and lead normal lives.

POST FALLS - Everyone makes mistakes.

Some mistakes are expensive and long-lasting. Some people find themselves behind bars with guilt-laden days ahead. Some mistakes are permanent, never letting the offenders forget how they failed themselves or others.

What happens to these people after these mistakes have been made, when they have outgrown the bad habits that plagued them? As life goes on, these painful reminders of past behaviors weigh heavily like chains, many times keeping those wearing them from finding decent jobs or simply leading normal lives.

"Felonies make things tough," said Adam Lyden, 31, of Dalton Gardens. "Nobody wants to rent to you, no one wants to hire you, so it's tough, but we're tired of working dead-end jobs."

A light of hope flickers in this darkness. It is growing into a circle of light that shines on those who seriously want to make a change in their lives and leave behind their old ways.

"It's not hopeless," said Lyden, who works as a LightWorks foreman. "There is a chance for a brighter future out there.

LightWorks, founded on the concept of social enterprise, is revolutionizing the way at-risk individuals reintegrate society and earn back their lives.

"We are trying to address the concept of solving community issues," said LightWorks founder Frank Genetti. "Part of the social concept of LightWorks is sustainability."

LightWorks is a for-profit vocational training project of Shepherd's Table Inc., a nonprofit, faith-based organization. It provides full-time work and on-the-job training for people who have graduated from HARC (Helping the At-Risk Community), a faith-based program that focuses on building character. And it isn't just for felons or people who have had trouble with the law. It's also for people with disabilities and those who have struggled with poverty. It's about breaking these cycles that prevent people from reaching their full potentials.

"You take someone that's been through rehab or probation and parole, they're used to thinking certain ways and acting certain ways," said Ken Gilbert, president of the Shepherd's Table board of directors and co-director of LightWorks. "What we're trying to do through character training, life skills, anger management, Bible study, is to try to correct that behavior, make it more in line with society's norm."

Genetti and Gilbert began thinking about LightWorks last fall, when they realized that although HARC is a great program, it would be best to have those receiving help be on site 'round the clock, which means they would need housing. Add this to the idea that productivity is important to the healing process.

So, why not have HARC grads build tiny houses and fill those needs?

"We stumbled on people building tiny houses, and we went and visited them," Gilbert said. "Driving back, we looked at each other and we said, 'You know, we should be building tiny houses.'"

Tiny houses are rising in popularity across the country. They are 500 square feet or less, include a sleeping area, bathroom, shower, kitchenette, living space and storage and they're mobile. They appeal to a wide variety of consumers, from first-time home buyers wanting to make a small investment to nonprofits and churches that want to help missionaries, veterans, the mentally disabled or the homeless.

"The tiny house concept is so unique, it's like an Airstream trailer," Genetti said. "People can customize them to their liking."

With help from a $121,000 Community Development Block Grant, a strong board of directors and eager determination, LightWorks opened its campus in Post Falls earlier this year. At least five HARC graduates now have full-time jobs building the tiny houses, which sell for about $35,000. The staff is increasing, as is LightWorks' capabilities to build and sell the trailers to transport the tiny houses, build organic greenhouses, build a commercial kitchen to expand into culinary opportunities and create an onsite "tiny house village" to serve as temporary housing for workers. It's all contained in a 7,000 square-foot facility with room to grow.

"It's about the people," Genetti said. "It's about their success and them turning their lives around. We want to give a hand up, not a handout."

Coming Tuesday: The people who shine at LightWorks

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