Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeffery Ashcraft.
Hi Jeffery, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Anchor House as an orginization started in 1974 by Mark Rivera. He named it Anchor House because he wanted to create a home where the lost souls of young men in fostercare could find something sure and steady to hold onto. I first heard about Anchor House in 2018. I had moved down to Lakeland FL towards the end of the summer that same year. I was transferring into SouthEastern University. For that first year of college I had started to feel like there was something missing frommy life, an aspect of my fiath walk. I realized that I was serving anywhere. I was doing school full time and working a job full time but nowhere was I loving on my neighbor and help my community. That’s around the same time that that my theology profesor brought in a guest speaker from a local orginization called Anchor House Ministries. Her name was Daniel, she came and talked about the need that there was to care for young boys in foster care and aging out of fostercare. That when it struck me that this was a God thing. The Lord had hear my prayer about looking for a place to serve. I approached my Professor, who at the time was the executive director of Anchor House Ministries, and told him that I was interested in being apart of what Anchor House was doing. Come May of 2019 I was working both direct care for our under 18 program and as a life skills speacialist in our 18 and over program. I learned a whole lot about the serious need there is for young boys and girls in the fostercare system. How Children all around our country are being used, abused, and neglected. I also learned so much more about how to love on them, how to care for them, and how help change their lives. In the spring of 2021 I stepped away from being a direct care staff and instead shifted more towards finishing my undergrad and improving the 18 and over indepentednt living program. Through living in the home with guys who had aged out of foster care and where transitioning to independence, I was able to make a difference by not only providing resources and assistance, but by also being a steady rock in their life. Someone they could rely on, and turn to in times of difficulty. By 2023 I had come to know our transition program and the independent living program of the state better than most. It was then that I took over as Anchor House’s transition program manager, and was promoted to an upper admin position. Since then I’ve continued to create safe and loving enviroments for our young men and women to grow in as they transition to independence. This program has and is accomplishing two major tasks. Firstly, its creating healthy relationships in the lives of young people who don’t have commited people in their lives. Secondly, We are keeping these young adults out of jails, out of homeless shelters, out of gangs, and off of drugs. All of which have been major statistics of foster children who has turned into unlove and immature adults, adults who did have commited caring people in their lives.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It defintely has not been smooth. There have been several times that I have wanted to quit. I’ve seen guys, that you pour into everything you have, just make some of the worst decisions and throw their lives away. You are constantly lied to by the people you are actively serving. There is never enough people, never enough resources, never enough money, and never enough oppertunities. You have to work with multiple orginizations to get anything done, because thats just the way the system is setup. Everyone in our office wears like 5 different hats at any given time. This field of service is not for the faint hearted. However, something that I have learned these past 7 years is that love without sacrifice isn’t love. If our loving people doesn’t cost us anything then we aren’t really loving people, we are merely pittying them.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a non-profit that focuses on caring for boys and girls who are in fostercare and who have aged out of fostercare. We aim to not just give them a place to live but a home they can return to. Anyone can offer lifeskills to kids and young adults, htats not what sets us apart. What sets us apart is the relationships we aim to make. We have found that lifeskills are only usefull when there are loving and commited people standing behind them. Anchor House Ministries’ number one goal is to change lives and restore hope; to be an anchor for lost souls in the harsh storm of life.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My advise is to knock on everydoor no matter how small or big or ridiculus it might seem. Don’t say no for other people, let them say it for themselves. It might surprise you how many more people will say yes to thing that you were convinced would be a no. To follow that up I would also adivise that people change their thinking. Don’t approach your work, your community, your home, or your relationships as being merely transactional. Its not about what can you get, its about what you can give. It is more blessed to give than to recieve.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anchor-house.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anchorhouseministries/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anchorhouseauburndale/
Image Credits
I took the photos
