REMEMBER CUT A THON Tomorrow

Menu + New to SouthlandNewsCalendarMediaContactStaffChildrenMiddle SchoolHigh SchoolAdultSportsMissionsCareServeSouthland About MySouthland Post an Ad Sheila Curtis Arnold My Ads Logout CUT A THON for Refuge for Women ministry Danville | Beside Garrard County Fairgrounds on US 27 across from Camp Dick School, 7736 Lexington Rd Posted by Sheila Curtis Arnold | Monday, February 01 | Events / In The Community

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Share Share on Facebook Followers This ad has 1 follower ?Cindy Willison Follow ad Cut and style - $20; Manicure or pedicure - $10; Restoring value to women: PRICELESS Two local businesses are putting heads together — literally — to offer beauty services to benefit a home providing refuge for women seeking an exit from the adult entertainment industry.

Royal Treatment Salon and Spa in Garrard County and House of Style in Danville are combining staffs Feb. 8 for a cut-a-thon offering all proceeds to the Refuge for Women — a project now being put into action by several volunteers.

Southland Christian Church members and business owners Sheila Curtis Arnold and Angie Crossfield said after hearing of the project at church, both wanted to be involved.

Crossfield heard about the refuge a year ago and immediately knew it was in her heart to help. When the refuge organizers told the congregation about the “life plans” classes planned for the women, Crossfield thought of her own talents.

“I knew I could help with interviewing, wardrobe, business guidance, makeup and just to be a friend that will not judge and be there to listen,” she said. However, Crossfield not only owns Royal Treatment Salon and Spa, but works full-time for a Danville company. Just finding the time to donate was difficult.

Then Arnold brought the idea to Crossfield to hold a cut-a-thon combining their employees.

“I and my two employees (at House of Style) had already decided to provide services to the Refuge for the women, free of charge, while they're in the home,” Arnold said. She said she had no clue the home was not funded and will be kept afloat only by donations. When she realized this, she brought the idea of a cut-a-thon to Crossfield.

Because of the new, special relationship between the two business owners, they are now combining their businesses on a permanent basis as well.

“My hope and prayer is that we can raise enough money to help support the Refuge for Women. It’s a 12-month program where women and children work together toward healing and leading a stable, productive life. It’s all about bringing hope and love to sometimes what can be a dark world,” Crossfield said.

The story behind the Refuge The home's executive director, Ked Frank, said plans initiated at Southland Christian Church where he was on staff. After the board formed in February, a farmhouse in Garrard was donated and the idea began officially taking shape. The planned completion date is mid-March, when up to seven women may move in — with children —free for up to a year.

“We’re in the process hiring staff right now; a house manager to live with the girls and a program director who will work with them daily,” Frank said. He said getting the right people on staff to work through the healing elements of these women’s lives is incredibly important.

Frank, a graduate of Mount Vernon Nazarene University who is working on a counseling degree at Asbury Theological Seminary, spent more than two years working in a men’s recovery facility in southern Ohio before serving on staff at Southland Christian Church.

“A lot of girls in clubs are struggling with addiction and have abuse in their backgrounds. Many of them hit a certain point in their life where they’re needing an escape, or it may just be day to day survival, and they turn to this business. A lot of them are single moms,” Frank said.

“We just try to give them an option. Not everyone wants out or wants to make the changes necessary to put their life on a different path.” Frank said. “We put the word out that whenever the others are ready, we’re ready to serve them.”

The home will not have certified workers as a state run facility would Frank says, which is why partnering with local and regional groups is so important. Frank has already established relationships with multiple agencies, such as those that work to end human trafficking.

“There is a relationship between trafficking, the clubs and prostitution. The lines are very fuzzy, but they are intertwined,” Frank said. He feels the home is helping to break a cycle. “It’s very eye-opening to me. The time seems right.”

Because the program is totally free and paid for on a donation basis, events such as the cut-a-thon are very important. Frank said volunteers have also joined together to make special beaded bracelets to fund the home.

“We’ve had several people in the community coming together to volunteer and creating these jewelry pieces, which we offer for a suggested donation of $5-$10,” Frank said. Jewelry making will be taught to the women in the home by volunteers to help sustain an income, as well.

The jewelry will be on hand Feb. 8.

You’re precious, you matter Arnold, a business owner who brought the cut-a-thon idea to Crossfield, felt personally called to help the Refuge for Women. And for a very personal reason.

Arnold, 36, once went in search of self-esteem. Coming from an abusive background as a rape victim, she turned to dancing in strip clubs at the age of 18. Looking back, she knows her then-damaged soul and low self-esteem brought her to such a place.

“I thought it made me cool and pretty,” Arnold said. Arnold’s otherwise bright face becomes affected as she shares her troubled past, but she continues talking through the tears. It’s okay, she says. It needs to be told. She’s not ashamed.

“It’s really not about the money, although that made it hard to quit. Girls will tell you they do it because the money is so good, but that’s not why.”

She quit when she was 20 but briefly returned to the business at 24, after having her daughter and experiencing marital problems. She felt alone and lost. Once again, she rationalized she needed the money.

Her background may have been troubled, full of pain and sexual violence, but it was also somewhat faith-based. She feels that fact brought her back to know what is important.

“I felt so guilty, dancing after my daughter was born. I knew I needed to be an example for her,” Arnold said. Then, one night in the club, a man who had sexually abused her came through as a patron. A realization hit her hard.

“All that — the abuse, the rape — that’s the reason I was there, in the clubs. That’s it. It just hit me,” she said. “I wish there had been a place like the Refuge that had reached out to me."

Arnold’s life has changed vastly over the years, but she feels she would have healed much faster if something like the Refuge for Women had reached out to her.

“Everybody needs love. It’s what everyone is looking for. All the people involved with this project have a genuine and sincere heart for these girls and want to help them,” she said.

Even more special to her, she says, is the fact that women can bring their children with them into the home.

“A lot of people may think that I tell my daughter too much — she knows about my past. But I can’t pretend. I can’t live my life hush-hush. People will never understand where you’re coming from if you don’t share it.”

Arnold may even have a certain advantage to sharing her troubled past with her daughter.

“When I tell my daughter not to do something, it could get her into trouble, she knows I know what I’m talking about. She knows where I’m coming from, what I’ve lived through and why I worry about her. She respects me.”

Arnold said if anything, she wants women who desire to get out of such industries to know — “You’re precious. You matter. There are people out there that love you.”

For more information on Refuge for Women, visit www.refugeforwomen.org.

IF YOU GO Refuge for Women cut-a-thon happens 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday, Feb. 8 at the Royal Treatment Salon and Spa, 7736 Lexington Road in Lancaster. Prices include: cut, $10; cut and style, $20; manicure or pedicure, $10; make-over, $15; and chair massage, $1 per minute.

Copyright: AMNews.com 2010