About Rod Redcay Executive Director
Rod Redcay is the founder and Executive Director of REAL Life Community Services. He spends most of his waking hours trying to find ways to impact others. He is also the Mayor of Denver, PA since 2014! Along with serving on Borough Council, he chairs the Lancaster County Mayors’ Association, and sits on multiple boards; Community Action Partnership, Union Community Care, and Cocalico Area Republican Committee! He and his wife, Sunny, have lived in Denver since 2004 and have two beautiful daughters, Ashley & Robyn! Rod’s favorite food is a tie between hamburgers and pepperoni pizza.
Rod Redcay spent most of his adult life ministering to young people. He has a heart for at-risk youth because he says in his own words “I once was considered at-risk too.” But it was the grace of God and a praying mother that kept Rod out of trouble. When his father left the family, his mother got him and his brother back into her family’s church where there were loving and caring adults and peers to provide attention they were missing from their father. Times were not easy but he made it into adulthood, got married, and started a family and career.
Now, he sees the values that were instilled in him at a young age are missing from a lot of youth today. “It’s amazing to think about the times when I was younger and never even heard about drugs in school, now it’s in our first and second grades!” Yes, Rod remembers talk of a spiritual bubble that once kept this small farming community of Lancaster County away from all the negative influences of the world, but not any longer.
You don’t have to think back too far when our small suburban communities were rocked with youth violence. This was not in the big cities, but Lititz, Leola, Manheim Township, and Denver. The Roseboro murder and the tragedy at Nickel Mines will never leave our minds. What has happened to our beloved bubble that was protecting us for so long? Rod has a few of his own ideas, but there is a serious situation of critical proportions and if something doesn’t change soon, we may lose a generation.
In October 2015, the organization changed its name to REAL Life Community Services to better help those in need in our local community. The mission statement changed to, “We do everything possible to connect the community to Hope through partnerships, collaborations, and building relationships.”
One of Rod’s favorite verses is, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose! (Romans 8:28).”
