Sue Sitter/PCT Chet Yoder, left, stands in the kitchen of a residence at Father’s Farm along with Austin Kilpatrick, center, and Jonathan Freeman.

Father’s Farm of Wolford has begun to see the first fruits of time and money spent to help men in recovery heal their lives.

Chet Yoder, program administrator, sat down in the main housing unit’s living room with two new residents at the facility who talked about new beginnings, both for the facility and themselves.

With sounds of hammers and circular saws in the background from finish work on the home’s gym, both men talked about their journeys in recovery and impressions of North Dakota.

Both born in California, Austin Kilpatrick and Jonathan Freeman have been in the state for just a few months.

“We’re looking each month to add more,” Yoder said.

Father’s Farm provides a faith-based way to help men coming from incarceration or inpatient drug treatment to come back into society and make a fresh start.

Yoder said the kind of life skills training Father’s Farm offers is vital because “Oftentimes, if men go back to a similar situation that brought them into rehab, it’s the same scenario all over again, they’re back into the lifestyle that got them into trouble.”

In addition to helping men develop skills such as maintaining jobs and bank accounts, Father’s Farm offers support by helping them develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Currently, we’re still working on aspects of the farm, such as finishing off the buildings here with the guys, but also, there’s going to be outdoor chores,” he added.

Freeman and Kilpatrick each said they were grateful for the help they received from Father’s Farm.

Kilpatrick said his journey to recovery began after years of addiction.

He moved to the Wolford facility after receiving help at Heartland Recovery, Inc. of Missouri. He later received training to become a peer support worker for Father’s Farm.

He said his addiction had begun in middle school, when he took up smoking cigarettes to cope with parents living apart, anxiety and an early diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome.

A teacher had sparked an interest in music in him while he attended elementary school. Later, after moving to Mississippi, he joined a band, which fell apart. But he said in the process, he met people who used drugs.

“All this time, I was smoking weed,” he said. “And I was drinking cough syrup with dextromethorphan to get high.”

He enrolled in college, majoring in marine science and chemistry, but he used his talents to visit the dark web and research psychedelic drugs, hallucinogens and “dissociatives,” or drugs that detach users from reality.

He met the woman who would become his child’s mother at a drug party. He dropped out of college, falling further into addiction. “I was doing stuff people have never even heard of,” he said.

He also began to drink heavily.

When his daughter was born, her mother stopped using. Kilpatrick stopped drinking, but fell back into abusing other substances. His new family grew apart.

After he moved to another residence, he was introduced by a roommate to methamphetamine. One morning, the roommate injected him with the drug.

When Kilpatrick’s daughter visited his home, his roommate prepared some meth to inject into himself while the girl was in the room. Kilpatrick said he beat his roommate severely, which led to an arrest for assault.

Other arrests for driving under the influence would add to his record. When he confessed to a drug court worker that he had been using, even though he passed a drug test, a judge revoked his probation. He landed in treatment and began his way to recovery.

“I believe everything you go through in life comes off on who you are,” he said. “It may not be (God’s) perfect will, but it’s his permissive will and he will let us go through certain things to let us become the person we’re meant to be.”

Freeman, born in Porterville, California, spent most of his life in that community before moving to North Dakota for a construction job.

“I left Porterville in 2017, came to Minot and worked on the jail for about a month,” he said.

But Freeman, who said he had been “smoking pot since I was in sixth grade,” moved into a home in Minot where drug users lived.

Freeman moved to Texas for other construction jobs, but since a girlfriend from California had moved to Minot, he decided to return to North Dakota. His girlfriend kept two secrets from him: she had another boyfriend and she was dealing in methamphetamine. Law enforcement officials were also watching her activities.

Freeman and his girlfriend drove from Texas to North Dakota in her car. She had hidden more than one pound of meth in the vehicle.

North Dakota Highway Patrol officers pulled the car over on US Highway 83.

Freeman received a federal prison sentence for his part in the transport.

“It’s only because of God that I’m here at this time because I was given the option of going through the R-Dap program, which gives you a year off your sentence, and then with the first step back credit, you’re supposed to get 15 days’ credit per month,” Freeman said.

The treatment program meant an earlier release from incarceration. Freeman was transferred to Heart of America Correctional and Treatment Center in Rugby, where he met Cleo Yoder, founder of Father’s Farm.

“I know God did this for me,” he said. “Coming back, I knew things weren’t going to be good. I didn’t have anything left with that girl, and the friend I had before, she moved some other people into the house.”

” At this point in my life, I was already tired of the life I was living,” Freeman said. “I was praying during that drive before I got pulled over. I said, ‘Lord, I’m tired of the life I’ve been living. I want something different in my life.'”

“And I’d always known God in my life. My momma was a pastor,” he added.

“It took me a while to see all that was going on, but I believe the Lord answered my prayer, because everything that happened up until now is the Lord has fallen into place for the Lord’s timing for his plan and purpose for my life,” he added, noting he was released from jail right when Father’s Farm opened.

Kilpatrick and Freeman spend their days studying the Bible and divide housekeeping chores. Freeman helps with some of the construction work being done to finish the facility’s gym.

“Our rooms are finished upstairs, but there are certain aspects such as our gym area where we’re trying to finish trim pieces,” Yoder said. “There are certain areas we’re still finishing off.”

Yoder said the men attend area churches every Sunday as a group.

All three men noted Father’s Farm could not exist without the help from thousands of volunteer hours and financial help.

“Our greenhouse where we get our fruit and vegetables was built with money from donations from Giving Hearts Day,” Yoder said.

Giving Hearts Day, an annual event begun in 2008 by Dakota Medical Foundation, is set for Feb. 9.

The day celebrates the community organizations across the state that work to make people’s lives better.

Although the foundation accepts donations for charitable causes throughout the year, on Giving Hearts Day, the foundation matches the grants, according to Yoder.

“So, your donation on Giving Hearts Day can be doubled,” he noted.

“To donate to us on Giving Hearts Day, you can go online to givingheartsday.org,” he said. “Click on the donate button under ways to give, and type in Father’s Farm. It’ll pop right up.”

You can also send in a check to 4440 78th St. NE, Wolford, ND, 58385. Write “Giving Hearts Day” on the memo line, it will count for a match. For more information on how to give to Father’s Farm on Giving Hearts Day, contact Father’s Farm at 771-2109.