‘Greatest show on earth’: Resurrection Power offers hope, healing to recovery community
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Scott Koskoski, far left, began as a consultant for Resurrection Power five years ago, but fell in love with the mission and now volunteers as chairman of the board. With him, from left, in the foyer of Trinity House are Sarah Angelo, ministry advancement manager; Tina Diamond, assistant director of Trinity House; Kathy Hedges and the Rev. Robert Hedges.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
In this photo from March 2022, the Rev. Robert Hedges and his wife, Kathy, relax in Trinity House’s living room. “Part of what we do is try to instill in folks that new identity of who God says we are, and that he’s with us on that recovery journey,” said Hedges, who will retire from Resurrection Power, which operates four recovery houses in Washington. “We get both the joys and the sorrows, because God’s with us in both the joys and the sorrows.”
For 21 years, the Rev. Robert Hedges and his wife, Kathy, have quietly helped more than 1,200 former addicts find hope and healing in Resurrection Power, the couple’s spiritual recovery nonprofit.
“What a tremendous asset for Washington, Pennsylvania, Resurrection Power is,” said Scott Koskoski, chairman of the board. “We sit at the intersection of … one transitional highway and Interstate 79. There are a lot of good things happening in this community in terms of addiction recovery, in terms of services and supports and outreach that are available. What I believe is that the integration of all of those services, plus the faith component, sets Resurrection Power on a different stage and renders us able to serve who we serve in a different, more authentic, more intentional way.”
Resurrection Power was a call to service life slowly prepared Bob Hedges to answer.
In the late 1990s, Hedges began attending 12-Step meetings with his daughter. The stories he heard sounded familiar, and Hedges took a hard look at his own relationship with alcohol.
He threw himself into recovery, offering himself as a pastoral presence in the community. During one meeting, Hedges noticed several newly sober members leave early with a stranger, who was later identified as a dealer.
“I had a thought: if drug dealers can come in here, where’s the church? That was the initial spark for starting a recovery ministry,” said Hedges. “It comes out of my own recovery journey.”
During a hike, Hedges and his wife felt a calling to open a ministry. Nearly two years into their ministry, a halfway house came onto the market. Hedges advocated for acquaintances to purchase the property, since he knew firsthand those successful in three-quarter and halfway houses often relapsed when living on their own.
“We kept talking to people and saying, ‘You need to buy this because this is important. Somebody needs to keep doing this,’ and everybody would go, ‘Nah, I don’t want to do it.’ Being the genius that I am,” Hedges laughed, “it took me a while – maybe we’re supposed to do it.”
With a grant from the Presbytery – which has been very supportive of the ministry, Hedges said – he and Kathy purchased what is today lovingly known as Resurrection House, the first of Resurrection Power’s four homes. About 10 men or women call each house “home,” and there are waiting lists for all four spaces.
“These houses save lives,” said Tina Diamond, assistant director of Trinity House. “It just changed my whole life. A lot of us have been molested as children. Bad relationships, domestic violence. Women are scared. And in these homes, we don’t have to be scared anymore.”
Unlike a treatment center or halfway house, recovery houses have no duration limits. Residents are welcome to live on campus for as long as recovery progress takes, so long as they remain committed to sobriety.
Those entering RP are required to complete a 90-for-90 program: 90 Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings in 90 days.
Residents are also expected to volunteer in the community, find employment and pay a small rent fee. Rent goes toward providing shelter, food, clothing and community, and helps residents learn to thrive in both recovery and society.
“We don’t really want for much in these homes,” said Diamond. “It’s a new start to something that you never thought you would ever be. I’m building credit. I might be able to buy a car on a loan now and things like that, that I would never do before. I wouldn’t care. Now, I take pride in what I do. I’m somebody when I can write that check or that money order to pay my own way and not use other people or take advantage of a situation. You feel empowered.
“You have hope, and there’s a future,” she said. “Now, I have a future.”
Resurrection Power, too, is building its future, which includes expanding to better serve the community. Hedges and Koskoski dream of investing in software that allows RP to better track its impact on those who walk through its recovery house doors.
Koskoski, who served as a consultant for RP before joining the board, hopes to build an infrastructure that outlives the Hedgeses.
“They’re the inspiration and the quarterbacks of the whole thing, but we’ve got to build something that’s going to outlast, we’ve got to build something that 30, 40 years from now, what does it look like? And where are we, where are we serving? How far have we spread? The need is there. The need will always be here in the community. What I’d like to think is, until the job is done, we’ll be here.”
Like any nonprofit, RP relies heavily on the generosity of the community. So the community is invited to Resurrection Power’s annual breakfast banquet Saturday, April 9, from 8:30-10:30 a.m., at the Elks Lodge, 138 E. Maiden St., Washington.
The board’s goal is to sell out the Elks Club, Koskoski half-joked.
On the schedule are musical performances by Darla Pepper-Miller and the Washington Festival Chorale, raffle baskets, speeches by both an RP alum and Bob Hedges, and a full breakfast.
The inaugural Faith & Community Award will be presented to the late Gene Vittone, whose support has been integral in growing RP. His wife, Jane, will accept the award.
“The late district attorney’s record is, you know, without peer,” said Koskoski. “I think that his words and deeds really line up with the spirit of this award. We’ll be very, very honored to be able to have his family with us that day and present the award to his wife.”
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at https://www.rezpowerpa.org/events, or by emailing Sarah Angelo at sangelo@rezpowerpa.org.
“The hardest, for me, is when a former resident does pass. I wouldn’t say it challenges my faith, but it is something that – it’s difficult,” said the Rev. Hedges. “What’s good is when you see people come into the house: eyes are glazed over, they come in and … they might be angry at God. And then you see the lights start to come on and those eyes start to open up. And then all of a sudden, they start to do the right thing, meaning really commit to recovery because they want to, not because they have to. When you see someone get free, that’s the greatest show on earth.”