History of REAL
REAL Life Community Services, formally known as R.E.A.L. Youth Ministries, was started in 2007 under the umbrella of DOVE Westgate Church. R.E.A.L. was an acronym for “relational evangelism affecting lives.” In 2008 Rod Redcay began volunteering at different Cocalico school events and activities hoping to engage in the lives of the youth that attended Cocalico School District.
The first board of directors was formed in 2010, and its members were Kris and Rachel Zajac, Brad and Sarah Sauder, Deryl Hurst, Steve Goble, and Sunny Redcay.
In Sept 2011, God told Rod to leave his job and begin working full-time to focus on building R.E.A.L. Youth Ministry. R.E.A.L. Youth Ministry received confirmation from the IRS that it was a 501©3. Rod started hanging out with youth at Wednesday morning Bible studies at the Cocalico HS and volunteering at other youth ministries in the area, such as Crossfire and TNT. He also started hosting 5th Quarter parties after the home football games, chaperoned school events, and whatever else he could do to get involved with youth.
In 2012, Kevin Eshleman became a part of the Board of Directors as the Board President.
In 2013, R.E.A.L. Youth partnered with the Power Packs Project in Lancaster to be their Cocalico Affiliate food pantry. We started serving families a couple of bags of food every week during the school year.
In 2014, The Denver Bible Church dissolved and gifted their church building and parsonage to the ministry for $1. The building was renovated and became the Lighthouse Youth Center on October 15, 2014. The parsonage was quickly adapted to use as a home for women coming out of the Good Samaritan Women’s Shelter in Ephrata.
In 2015, the Board of Directors saw that the ministry was doing more work with the families of the youth in the community. They officially changed the name to REAL Life Community Services and hired our first official full-time Social Worker.
During this time, Bill Landis, Director of YWAM Caribbean, asked Rod to begin praying about the Denver House, located across the street from the new Lighthouse Youth Center. The building, a 27-room hotel/bar, was built in 1863 and was once the most beautiful building in Union Station, PA. It had since deteriorated into a seedy, dangerous place, with the highest police call volume in the Cocalico area. Rod organized a group of prayer warriors to pray for the property and, in February of 2016, the bar closed.
That year, Rod met Ray D’Agostino, of Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership (LHOP). They started discussing the possibility of turning the recently closed Denver House into something of more value to the community. They decided to convert the property into 10 affordable apartments, 3 commercial/retail spaces on the street level, a satellite office for Welsh Mountain Health Services, and the official offices for the ministry.
In 2017, The Denver House Project officially became the property of REAL Life Community Services and LHOP, and the dream of the Declaration House was born. Demolition unofficially began in November.
Over 200 volunteers came out on Saturdays to remove 27 dumpsters of trash and debris left by the previous owners.
In February 2018, REAL Life signed the papers to purchase the building portion of the property, and a groundbreaking was held on September 17.
The Declaration House held its grand opening on August 27th, 2019.
REAL Life purchased an old warehouse behind the Declaration House in March 2020. By September the building was renovated to become “Warehouse916” Food Distribution Center.
In April 2021, REAL purchased the apartment building next to the Declaration House which had 3 apartments and REAL Life added 2 studio apartments to the 3rd floor.
July of 2021, we had the opportunity to officially hire Clarence Rutt, a long-time volunteer, as our Facilities Maintenance Manager.
With our Food Distribution programs growing, In February 2022 we asked Mary-Beth Levan to join our team as Food Distribution Manager, which then led to her becoming Director of Food Distribution.
That same year, State Farm agent Matt Williams and REAL Life Community Services employees rallied the community and won $25,000 from State Farm. This award was to help pay for a Ford Transit van to transport food orders and people to large events.
With the growth of the ministry, it became apparent that it was necessary to add a garage to the side of Warehouse 916 to house the Ford Transit van and other ministry vehicles. The garage was attached to the warehouse and finished in January 2024.
Beny Iordanescu started as the Program Coordinator in March 2023 and was promoted to Director of Operations.
Emelia Reifsnyder was hired as our social worker in August 2023 and became the acting Director of Programming.
Lastly, Robyn Redcay was hired as the Executive Director in December.