Hi, I'm Sherry Carrington, co-founder and executive director of Connect Palmer. If you've ever wondered how this amazing ministry got started, here's our story.

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From 1997 to 2003, I worked in Fairbanks, Alaska for a non-profit organization called Father House, Single Parent Family Center. It was a practical needs ministry whose outreach was directed toward single-parent families. We did everything from Car Care Clinics, Bike Care Clinics, Parenting Classes, Budgeting Workshops, to the Great Alaskan Coat Swap. During my last couple of years working with single-parent families at Father’s House, I wrote out the plans for an additional program. I called it God’s Work Design.  This program idea was geared to help individuals get back into the workforce. Unfortunately, the program did not get past the planning stage before the Lord moved me on to Palmer and a new season of life.

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I got married in 2003 (that was the new season) and moved to Palmer Alaska. Starting in 2004 to 2014, I went back into the business of custom sewing, alterations, and dressmaking. I also begin to offer sewing classes and camps.  Then the Lord began to move into a new direction or maybe the Lord was moving me in a direction that I had forgotten. 

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Connect Palmer started in a place of prayer. In March of 2014, I started praying daily for Palmer at the downtown Corte Plaza each morning. This was honestly a true miracle of God!  I’ve never ever been a morning person, but for months, the Lord was waking me up at 7:15 am so I was down at the plaza by 7:30.   This went on Monday thru Saturday from 7:30 to 9 for months. I knew God was up to something. Late in April 2014, Steve (my husband) and I were driving around praying for Palmer. We passed a little office space on Alaska St.  It was a 2 story red building, in downtown Palmer, that was up for rent.  We stopped in and inquired from the building manager about renting.  

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As we looked at this office space, I began to re-envision the work program.  We continued to pray and I went and looked at the property for a 2nd time.  And we continued to pray. Somewhere in the praying I felt like God gave me a name for this ministry stirring in our hearts and minds, Connect Palmer, for the purpose of ‘Connecting Palmer to the Love of God’

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 The 3rd visit happened at the beginning of May we were joined by some local folks that often joined us in our morning prayer time. When the office manager meets us this time, we shared a bit of our vision for the office space.  The manager indicated that the owner of the building was a Christian and that he lived in Anchorage. He suggested that we should share what we had in mind for the space, he might be interested.

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So I emailed the owner, shared the vision of a back to work/work-ready program, and explained we didn’t actually have an organization yet, but we had a group of people who were willing to be on a founding board, but that we were looking for someone to partner with us on the front end of a lease and allow us to get up and running and have a physical presence in the community. Much to my surprise (oh me of great faith), the owner replied he liked the idea, offered us a couple of months of no rent, no deposit, and “let’s see what God will do.’

 

So when we signed a lease, someone donated paint and our group of board members (to be) started painting the office space and we started the paperwork to start a Non-Profit called Connect Palmer. We began creating a work-ready program and offer practical needs assistance. The first practical needs program we started was the ‘Locker’, offering personal care and cleaning items to those struggling. 

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Very shortly after we opened our doors, God began to connect us to the homeless community in Palmer.  As we offered our work program in the first year, about 80% of the women doing the program were homeless.  They were living in their cars, on the river, or on friends’ couches. So, when 1 of the 2 apartments, located above our training center, opened up we rented it. 

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December 2015 we had our first Sarah’s House Resident.  Our goal was to provide a safe place for women to stay while they were participating in our work-ready and life skills programs.

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Our First apartment was opened in 2015 and in 2016 we rented the second apartment upstairs.  We have had 85 ladies stay at Sarah’s House from 2015 to 2021.  

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We’re looking forward to what God has ahead! It is always ‘above and beyond what we can think of or imagine.’