WOMEN FIND SAFE HAVEN AT ANGEL MANOR

KINGMAN -- Fawn Boone is looking forward to a brighter future now that she
has kicked the drug habit that made her life miserable between the ages of
17 and 24.

"I was on methamphetamines," she said.

"Speed was the drug of choice for me and it got so bad I went from smoking
or snorting to using needles."

Boone grew up in a family continually around drugs, and most of her friends
were users.

She said she became a user in order to "fit in" with everyone around her.

By age 23, she had a $100 per day habit.

A state agency took away two of her children due to her drug habit, Boone said.

"My 3-month-old daughter was injured because I was neglectful and in a
state of depression and I don't even know how she was hurt," Boone said,
her eyes beginning to mist as she spoke.

Boone bore a son who also was taken for adoption as she struggled to regain
control of her life.

A Mohave County Probation Department officer eventually placed her at Angel
Manor, Boone said.

Wendy Rapp moved to Kingman from California three years ago and almost
immediately started Angel Manor.

Rapp said she was an alcohol abuser and drug addict between the ages of 14
and 40 and decided to open her home to women and teenage girls who had the
same problems.

"I'm in recovery myself," Rapp said. "I got down on my knees one day and
told God I'd go to any lengths to get over my problems, and the message I
got was to open my home and help others."

Rapp rents rooms to women and teenage girls for $85 per month. Her tenants
must hold jobs, help with chores, attend at least one daily meeting of
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous, attend anger management,
parenting or other classes as directed by the courts or probation
department, participate in appropriate treatment programs at Mohave Mental
Health, and adhere to a 10 p.m. curfew.

Boone, 26, said she participated in intensive outpatient substance abuse
counseling for about six months at Mohave Mental Health.

"I tired to get my probation officer to put me in prison," Boone said. "But
he would not let me off that easily and said I would have to change my life
if I ever wanted to get my kids back.

"(Counseling) was useful, but it really took a change in environment and
the people surrounding me to change my life and that was not easy. I was
far from willing."

Her seven-year drug habit destroyed her self-esteem, but she is getting it
back, Boone said.

"I now have an inner peace and calm," she added. "Everything in my life in
the past was overwhelming, but God took control.

"I've stopped trying to do everything myself. Between my church family and
the people here (at Angel Manor) I now realize I don't need material things
to be a better person."

Venus Martin, 16, regularly visits Angel Manor, although she does not live
there.

She was a methamphetamine user for seven years and found the help she
needed through the Youth Enjoined Sobriety (YES) program, which is
administered by the Mohave County Juvenile Probation Department and Mohave
Mental Health.

"I took classes on life skills, did community service work and completed
the first three steps of the 12-step AA program," Martin said. "You have to
work the program and do every step to get on the road to recovery."

Martin said the YES program normally lasts 30-60 days, but some juveniles
may stay in it up to 90 days. She was in it 49 days.

Rapp said 107 women have stayed in her home during the past three years.

The feelings common to all were pity and incomprehensible demoralization
before getting into a recovery program, she said.

"I provide a safe haven where women live clean and sober and where they can
be loved until they learn to love themselves and do the things necessary to
be reunited with their families and kids," Rapp said.

Public meetings are held at 7:30 a.m. at Angel Manor, which is located at
3239 Potter Ave. The public also is welcome to attend a potluck supper
there at 5 p.m. each Saturday, followed by a 6 p.m. meeting when a guest
speaker talks about recovering from alcohol abuse. Speakers often come from
Phoenix, Utah and Colorado, Rapp said.

Angel Manor receives no public or private funding and is not a recovery
home, Rapp said.

Anyone wishing more information may call 757-7929.