Shafter's Teen Challenge program offers second chances

Shafter Teen Challenge is a free, one-year residential, faith-based program for men ages 18 and older who suffer from any addiction. The goal is to transform lives, offering hope and a brighter future.

Greg Hill, a Shafter native, has been a kitchen manager and teacher advisor for five years. He is a testament to the impact Teen Challenge can have on an individual. "I'm a product of the program," he said in an interview last week. "In 2017, I came here broken and homeless. I had a rough upbringing, was in a gang, and spent over 27 years in and out of prison. I was a heroin addict who had tried everything else, but this is what finally worked for me." Today, Greg is happily married, in the process of purchasing his first home and owns a vehicle.

Currently, 70 men live on the organization's 23-acre ranch on Riverside Street just off Shafter Avenue. They follow a structured daily schedule, rising early for prayer and worship, then attend Bible classes that teach principles for a successful life. After class, they head to work assignments: some cultivate pistachios grown on-site, while others handle landscaping. A large kitchen offers cooking and food service training, and a well-equipped tool shop provides hands-on skills for various tasks. They also operate a full laundry facility, where they wash each other's clothes and cater events using their own catering truck.

"It teaches them responsibility. A lot of these men have never had a job-I never had a job before coming here. Doing this work allows them to develop skills, learn a trade and build self-confidence they can apply in the real world once they graduate."

The men also participate in door-to-door fundraising, sharing information about the program and letting people know that if they have family members or know someone struggling with addiction or other life-controlling issues, they are there to help. At the same time, they ask for donations. "We do this to keep the doors open for the next person coming through because we are a nonprofit."

For Andres Peña, 25, alcoholism, mental health issues and homelessness brought him to the center. "The program was a safe place to get away from the things of the world that had separated me from God. God used the program to bring me into a relationship with Him. Now that I have this relationship, my life has been renewed. Being here, God has transformed me into a completely different person. He used this place to teach me to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the truth and changed how I view life. I've been set free from the chains of addiction and sin. It has restored my relationship with my family."

He feels that with secular programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, there is too much emphasis on self-identification, "With the idea that once you are an addict, you are always an addict. But here, the focus is on being delivered from that bondage and set free. Here, we work on more than addiction. We work on character, the way we live, the way we think, having love for others, and having love for God above all other things."

For more information or to make a tax-deductible donation, visit TeenChallenge.org/ktc or call 661-746-4917.