Avon Park Correctional Institution Graduating Class of April 28, 2015
Another Graduation after six months of hard work and personal growth.
It has been my pleasure to work with these young men fulfill their
desire for a better future.

 

 

Hogar RESA's first day at Grace Place to clean up and
spruce up the grounds.

Eileen Sala welcomed Pastors Carmelo Ruiz and
Eduardo Lebron as they bring their Christian
Recovery Program, Hogar RESA, to Grace Place.
Pastor Carmelo established Hogar RESA (Home,
A Spiritual Refuge for Restoring Souls) in 2009
in Avon Park, FL.  In a partnership with Little
Lambs they will be using the  Grace Place facility
in Sebring as another home for their program.

Grace Place is finally complete and ready for occupancy.

Click here to download the digital version of our latest news letter.

The Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscapers Association's DeeDee and
Holly brought us these beautiful plants and placed them throughout the
house. They left a plant for each girl at her bedside and placed palms and
flowers on the porch. It is the perfect finishing touch.

News Sun recently featured an article about Grace Place.
Click the link to read about Grace Place and the founders, John and Eileen Sala.

Enjoy!

Click here to download our digital news letter for August 2011.

Our Grace Park being put in place to create a spiritual setting for our girls. An ideal setting to contemplate the majesty of God.

Click here to download a digital version of our July News Letter.

Carl is a dedicated Christian man who disciples other men in the prison at Avon Park Correctional Institution, where also serves as the Chapel clerk.  He is a  graduate of the Overcomers class and now a recent graduate of the Marriage, Family, and Parenting class. 

[photo with John Sala]

Some of our proud Graduates in the Chapel at Avon Park Correctional Institution.

Click here to see group pictures of the graduates of the Overcomers class and Marriage, Family, and Parenting class.
 

Sitting for the Marriage, Family & Parenting exam at Little Lambs.

Here is a view of the new office at Grace Place!

A view of one of the bedrooms at Grace Place, in progress!

Cleaned and ready for furniture, we moved all our gifted furniture
into Grace Place this week.  Lots of love and concern from all the sponsors.

John had the honor of officiating at the wedding of one of your students, Johnathan
and Lisa Bourque at the Bok Tower in October.  They had developed a great
relationship.

.

Wow, beautiful colors waiting to be cut in and finished with trim. Beautiful
greens, tans, yellows, oranges.  The women coming here will be refreshed by
the lovely colors lively attitude. Thanks to MC Painting, Greg Carr

Bill Dailey, owner of Sebring Cabinets,
with Wayne delivering our oak cabinets.
They competed installation and now
we're waiting on the countertop!!

Troy, manager of Sebring Home Depot, with John.  Troy has
just given us a huge discount on all the tile for the Women's
home.  The floors have been prepped and Ray is ready to tile. 

Just as we were beginning the preparations to install new flooring
and tile throughout the entire house, we discovered a long forgotten
hardwood floor.  After some serious cleaning and elbow grease, we estimate that we will be able to salvage nearly 45% of these lovely
red wood floors.



As you can see, it will take a lot of work, but is certainly worth it!

More pictures to come as the cleaning continues!

Greg, a professional painter, donated his time and effort over
the weekend to paint the interior of A Safe Place.




Below you can see Greg painting the walls and ceilings.  He was finished in a matter of hours and then off to another job!



Many thanks to Greg for the gift of his time and expertise.
Also many thanks to Sherwin Williams for the donation of paint!

Click here to download Little Lamb's August news letter!

   

Some of our new staff having a look at the new space.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in to get all the 12 foot wallboard in place.  Here you can see the cut-out window between the kitchen and dining areas. 

This space is evolving everyday.  It is truly amazing to see how much progress can happen with hard work and dedication. Many thanks to those who continue to offer their support for this project. 

More pictures to come soon!

Our team of ladies tour the progress of the
building after their meeting.  You can see the
high ceilings in this picture.  Lots of planning
and scouring for resources among the group.

Tim volunteered with us for over a week.  He is a professional drywall and painting contractor.  Tim is an old friend of the ministry and we are so grateful for his help with those 12 foot ceilings!
Now we are ready to begin the finishing.


[John with Tim White.]


Thank You Tim!

Little Lambs Inc. has just joined Facebook!

Check out our facebook page for updates on A Safe Place and Little Lambs Prison Ministry.

Our goal is to share information and photos about our current projects and keep you informed on our progress.  Feel free to comment or ask questions.  We still are adjusting to online life, but will try to address all question and concerns in a timely manner.

Thanks for you support!

Check out our latest news letter!

Amazing work in so little time! 
The inside of the walls have been covered with scripture verses and new now have wallboard installed over the top.  Insulation was also put into the walls as well.  We hope to complete the wallboard by the end of the week. 

---

Another crew of 4 local volunteers came in to do the ceilings.  Our ceilings are 12 feet high, just a little harder to do.

 

Jonathan Bourque, Ray Gonzalez, and John Sala
are planning the strategy for putting down a new
tile floor.  Some of the newest techniques will be
used and at a minimal cost.  Both  Jon and Ray
are students of Little Lambs, having worked with us
through the years.  It is a pleasure to work with
these two dedicated young men who are making a
life and future for themselves and their families.
The floor is in the planning stage but will soon be
time to put it down.

Jackie and Gerald Speirenburg from Sarasota, FL came to Sebring on May 2nd to wire A Safe Place for us.  They are my heroes! 
It was the first heat wave of the year with temperatures in the 90's. They were here on a mission and doing a work for the Lord, they said; and work they did.  Working 10 hour days, for 15 days, with only one day off!

























Gerald is a journeyman electrician from Michigan and Jackie is his very efficient and detailed helper.  They acted like they were in their 40's, not 70's. They did some very complex work for us and made us inspection-ready. We estimate that they did over $10,000 of work and refused pay.
They are a very interesting couple with a very varied history. They have been serving the Lord for 55 years.  They are tremendous role models and it was our pleasure to have them with us.

We are so pleased to introduce you to Helen Bingenheimer, our new Community Liason. She will be helping us get the word out for the newest part of our ministry, A Safe Place, Home for Women.

Helen comes to us from Frostproof, and is president of a large Christian Women's Organization in the Sebring area.  She will be joining us at the Little Lambs office. Helen's main function is to help draw support and spread the word about A Safe Place. With Helen's help people will learn more details about this project and how they can help. We know that to make this project successful and sustainable we will need support from the community.

A Safe Place, our new building on Magnolia St., is a concrete block house built in 1930.  Our focus this week was framing new walls.  The 12 foot ceilings and concrete walls make this quite a hefty job.  We were in need of a pneumatic coil nailer for the concrete walls and framing. 

Timidly, we went out at 7 am and purchased the expensive nailer and compressor.  By 10 am our guys were nailing away and framing walls, when Linda Boyd and her 18 month old granddaughter stopped by and brought us a gift.  That gift paid for the nailer, the compressor, hoses, and a case of nails.



What a blessing - Thank you Linda!

Many thanks to all those who are working to help us on this project, you are greatly appreciated!

The transformation has begun, keep checking back here for more progress reports on A Safe Place.

If you are interested in donating your time or gifts to this project please email us, we would love to hear from you.  Also contact us with an questions/concerns:  asafeplace@littlembsinc.org

Easter was an awesome day for us. 

On Saturday, we received a call from Jon in Winter Haven, he wanted to share his story with us.  Nine years ago, he was in a West Virginia prison after 20 arrests, and at the end of his rope, hopeless.  There he read John's book (I'm Not Coming Back), and said that it gave him hope and he turned to the Lord.  After making parole Jon is with family in Florida, where he is nearly finished with a Master's Degree in Business Administration!

He called to talk with John and mentioned that he wanted to spend Easter with us, that it was important to him.  Jon brought his fiancé, Lisa.  We went to church together for an awesome service, and then had lunch together.



We felt like proud parents!  We plan on seeing lots more of them. I was doubly blessed because Sunday was my birthday also!  I look forward to a special spiritual blessing on my birthday, and I was not disappointed.

-Eileen

 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.  Ps 34:18


April 1, Look for a link to our new digital newsletter on our website. 

God is leading volunteers for administrative positions and fundraising on A Safe Place. The permit is pulled, the power on, and the work beginning.  Please pray as we move forward.

Monday we will start new classes at Martin Correctional Institution in Indiantown, Fl.  The men have been invited to attend the Overcomers Class and the Parenting Class. 

Also starting in April we will begin new classes at Avon Park Prison.  We expect to see great changes in these men.