Queen for more than a day

Published 11:11 pm Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Marsha MacLean was living in the back of a Lynnwood furniture store when she was arrested for a drug felony in 2006.

Her methamphetamine habit began when she was 14 years old and living in Idaho. She used the drug with her mom.

At 27, MacLean found that the drug had taken her from functioning addict to full-blown addict with no friends, no job and no home.

“Eighty-one days in jail changed all that,” MacLean said.

As she slept off her stupor in jail, MacLean reflected. During her time behind bars, MacLean found the Recovery for Life Training Center on a resource list. The Everett-based program helps those who are addicted, homeless and need help. With just the clothes she was wearing and no money, MacLean felt like she was ruined.

“I came here straight out of jail on the bus,” MacLean said.

That’s when she heard about “Queen, It’s a New Day,” an annual event put on in conjunction with Recovery for Life Training Center that provides women in transition with a personal makeover and new clothes. Women also listen to speakers and attend seminars offering information about job hunting and ways to succeed in life.

MacLean went to the 2006 event.

“It was the most amazing experience,” MacLean said. Walking on the red carpet into the hotel was more surreal that she had imagined. “Words cannot explain what it feels like.”

MacLean soaked in all the information she was given and learned all she could from the event. She couldn’t get many jobs because she is a felon. But she knew after that day that regardless of her criminal background she could be successful.

“And I can. And I am,” MacLean said. “I’m a whole person. I have everything I could ever want.”

MacLean is now the event planner for “Queen, It’s a New Day,” which is now in its ninth year and has expanded to be a two-day event where 150 women in shelters from Monroe, Everett and surrounding areas spend the night in a hotel and receive pedicures and a makeover. They also listen to women who have been in similar positions speak about how they successfully recovered from their previous lives.

“The concept is not about a makeover,” said Judy Hoff, founder of the event and pastor of Life Changes Ministry in Everett. “It’s about an inside-out makeover.”

Hoff started Recovery for Life Training Center because of the work she had done with people trying to break the cycle of addiction and homelessness.

“Men, women and children were going from jail to a center and rehab and back to jail,” Hoff said. “I saw this cycle and it wasn’t being broken.”

Hoff said she offers people a hand up, not a handout. She does this by providing those in need with life, parenting and job skills through the center and through “Queen, It’s a New Day.”

“I’m really excited about the opportunity the women have for a radical life change,” Hoff said.

Speakers are making the trip from California to Everett and not charging Hoff a fee. Members of the Navy will escort women to the stage. Donations of clothes and hairstylists are in line. Everyone is a volunteer. Workshops on self-esteem and finances are ready, but employers are needed for a career fair.

Although Hoff is excited about the event, there is still the concern about raising money, something that she and MacLean are working hard at.

Without the money, women attending the event might not have the life change Hoff wants for them, the kind of life change that MacLean experienced after her time at “Queen, It’s a New Day.”

MacLean works two jobs and has her own apartment. She is a happy woman and represents that there is a new day, Hoff said.

“A lot of people get goodness and forget where they got it,” Hoff said. “Marsha stayed and said, ‘I will help you.’ She is a woman of integrity.”

Christina Harper: 425-339-3491. harper@heraldnet.com.