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'I'm encouraged to be more like her': Conway woman's passion helps other women heal

In Conway, a story is being told through the compassion and work of Dana Davin-Ward by helping dozens of women.

Throughout the communities that make up Arkansas, there are all kinds of remarkable people.

For every picture there is a story that is to be told. Some will tell you of success, love, hope but not all stories have a happy beginning. Certain stories will tell you of pain, addiction and desperation.

In Conway, a story is being told through the compassion and work of Dana Davin-Ward by helping dozens of women.

"I believed in the potential that was inside of them. I had worked with women for years and I knew that if a woman had enough self-worth, they were all endowed with amazing gifts and talents," she said.

Ward met these women while they were serving time behind bars, but before that she worked to help woman discover their potential through a million dollar cosmetics company.

"It really was my life for many, many years it was my passion," Davin-Ward said.

Ward told us she was going through a tough time in her life when she came up to Isaiah 30:18, a piece of scripture in The Bible.

"And it really talked about how, as we wait on our God in our trying times, God is many times waiting on us," she said.

It was through that message that she began to write a book in the middle of the night. She didn't know where that book would lead to, but to her surprise it has traveled the world on its own through the hands of others.

"It was in Africa being read to women who were being rescued from child bride trafficking in Kenya," Davin-Ward said. "Then it began to be taught in bible colleges in eastern Europe with people coming out of the communist block. So it was way bigger than me."

But she said the greatest place the book would turn up was in prison. After receiving letters from women saying how it changed their lives, she and a group of other women began to speak and teach at a women's prison in central Arkansas.

They called themselves the Isaiah 30:18 Ministries.

"It was the turning point for everything for this next season of my life that compelled me to sell my business, sell my home and really embark in an area where I had no experience," Ward explained.

While visiting the prison, Ward said she saw the plight of women of all ages, most of them battling some form of substance abuse.

Determined to do more than just pray, Ward decided it was time to take action. She met a pastor in Conway who shared her vision and created a safe place for women to heal, learn and grow.

"It saved my life and it saved all of my sisters' lives," Lexi Holcomb said.

Holcomb was having fentanyl withdrawals when she first came to Harbor Home in Conway.

She was having an identity crisis, struggling to find purpose or who she was going to be. That's when Ward introduced her to Christianity and a change began to arise.

"Without her and her obedience and her willingness to create this life-saving program, I don't think that I would be here to be honest," Holcomb said.

The Harbor Home is a faith-based residential community. The program also has a mobile home and an apartment to help women transition back into society.

"Some women are here because judges have seen the effectiveness from the program at the Harbor Home and will recommend that women come here instead of prison," Davin-Ward said.

There are two phases of the program that consist of a curriculum that focuses on healing and the root cause of their addiction.

Classes also provide education on finance, budgeting and relationships. Some women even come back to the ministry once they graduate from the program.

"For me, it's the most gratifying thing that I've ever gotten to do in my life is to watch them change and watch them grow," Davin-Ward said.

Holcomb is just one of many women that has made Ward proud. Now serving as the phase two director of the program, Holcomb is teaching others what Davin-Ward taught her. She said it is Davin-Ward's remarkable heart that inspires her most.

"It's pure, it's giving, it's sacrificial and more than anything, it's devoted and in that, I'm encouraged to be more like her," Holcomb said.

A total of 37 women have graduated from the program since it began three years ago.

Ward said her hope is that women leave a legacy their own children can follow.

The Harbor Home is a non-profit organization and if you'd like to donate to its cause, click here.

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