DENVER — Nichole Creed gets into a rhythm in the manufacturing line as she boxes up rice and beans at the Women's Bean Project (WBP).
“It kind of helps you get out of your head almost," Creed said about the pace she finds each day.
Before the 28-year-old mom was packaging food, she had been homeless for six years.
“I am a recovering addict, so that was my dark place," said Creed. "I’ve been struggling with addiction for over a decade, and today I’m almost 18 months clean 'cause I have that support and that stability."
For the first time in six years, Creed said she and her 2-year-old son now have their own home.
That support and stability began when she was in a shelter and became connected to the Women's Bean Project.
“While we make food, that’s really not the purpose, our purpose is to help women change their lives," said the CEO of the Women's Bean Project, Tamra Ryan.
She hopes to change even more lives with their new location in Athmar Park. They moved in June after outgrowing the old firehouse in Curtis Park they occupied for nearly three decades.
"We will double within the first three years of our operations," said Ryan. "So in the first year as we settle into the space and sort of get our sea legs we think we’ll hire 15 additional women, but by the third year we think we’ll be [at] about twice as many women."
Right now, WBP employs about 60 women a year. All have struggled to find a job throughout their life.
Once women are in the program, they work full time, but also get help with skills to help them transition into the workforce when they graduate.
The new space includes rooms designed for teaching those skills.
“It’s not forever but they get you to where you wanna be forever," said Creed, who has been in the program for six months and will graduate this fall or winter. "They help you get to...any dream that you have, they will do anything in their power to get you there."
Creed found power in a new routine away from addiction.
"It’s very symbolic actually of it," she said of the repetitive nature of her job. "You can’t ever forget that it’s there because it sneaks up on you, but this really, it stops your head, it gives you something to do."
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