The house has a long way to go.

Much like the women it will provide a home for, the house at 421 S. Howell St. in Rocky Mount is a work in progress. Walls in every room have peeling paint and holes. Some walls are missing altogether. The plumbing and electricity don’t work. There is no carpeting or appliances.

But where some see only a house in disrepair, the volunteers renovating it see Redeemer’s Inn, a future Christian-run halfway house for women released from Fountain Correctional Center for Women, said Jesse Lewis, one of the organizers for the nonprofit group. The transition house, which he hopes to have open by January, will have space for a housemother and up to six women as they try to get their lives back on track.

Organizers want to teach the women financial and life skills, mentor them spiritually and help them find jobs, he said.

“If they don’t want to go back to where they came from, if they want to make a fresh start, we feel like we can help them get on their feet and successfully transition them into life in the community,” Lewis said.

Another group came up with the idea for Redeemer’s Inn about six years ago, but organizers couldn’t find financing, said Beth Lewis, Jesse Lewis’ wife. In October 2009, the abandoned eyesore was donated to Church on the Rise in Rocky Mount, and the Lewises, who are members, approached the pastors and local business leaders about resurrecting the idea.

Renovations began in March with church and community members volunteering most of the time and labor on monthly workdays, Jesse Lewis said. He hopes to get more volunteers at all skill levels at the next workday on Aug. 21.

Patrick Zammiello Jr. and his wife, Greta Zammiello, have volunteered at almost every workday, helping with demolition, painting, framing and construction.

“It is really rewarding seeing the progress that is made from the time we started up to now. ... It has been a complete 360 from what it was,” said Patrick Zammiello of Rocky Mount.

Beth Lewis knew long before the house was donated how much such a place was needed for women who didn’t want to go back to the life that led to prison.

“We helped a couple ladies who have gotten out, and the places they have had to move to have been so scary and horrible. Other people we have known have gotten out and gone straight back to the environment that they came out of and ended up right back in prison,” Beth Lewis said.

The community needs houses like these as much as the women just out of prison do, said the Rev. Ann Coley, volunteer chaplain at Fountain. By helping the women start new lives, the house will lessen the chance they will return to crime and end up in the judicial system, which costs taxpayers money.

“Without an address, phone number and proper clothes, it is really hard to get a job interview, much less a job. Basically, it is a vicious cycle,” Coley said.

A study by the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisement Commission found that 40.1 percent of prisoners released on parole or placed on probation in 2005-06 were rearrested within three years.

Women interested in staying at Redeemer’s Inn will have to go apply and must have demonstrated a desire to change while in prison, Beth Lewis said. If accepted, residents will pay a small fee to live in the house and be required to save toward becoming independent. They will be expected to find a job and attend scheduled financial and life skills classes.

There also will be optional Bible studies, Jesse Lewis said. The women do not have to be Christians to become residents, but they need to understand the house will be operated from a Christian perspective, he said.

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HOW TO HELP

Redeemer’s Inn organizers have raised about $12,000 to make renovations on the halfway house but need another $26,000 before it can be finished. To contribute or to volunteer for renovation work, call 451-8887.