Misfits Mission helps women released from prison get fit in a variety of ways

HOUSTON – “A woman in Houston is turning her painful past into a healthy future for incarcerated women. She offers them a second chance at life at the Hiding Place. My parents divorced when I was 8. During that time, I was very hurt and didn't understand. I started using drugs at a young age,” explains Tyler Coleman.

After a rough start to her life, she recently created a beautiful home she calls “The Hiding Place.” She says it all started with problems at home that led to drug addiction and one arrest after another.

“16 (arrests) in total. While I was on the streets, I had multiple guns put to my head, was almost choked to death, and once attempted suicide. I had no ID, no money, no clothes, my car had been impounded. Every time I got out, I just went back to the streets. I just went back to what I knew,” Coleman explains.

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After her 16th stint behind bars, she hit rock bottom and moved in with her mother. Her mother advised her to go to a rehabilitation and drug rehab program. She declined, but agreed to her mother's suggestion that they work out with her. However, her body wasn't ready, and her first day at the gym was a drama on the elliptical machine. “I passed out, hit my head on the machine, passed out, had to be taken to the emergency room, had $4,000 in medical bills and staples in my head, and hadn't even been out of jail for a week,” Coleman explains.

It was a setback, but she didn't let it discourage her. She continued going to the gym and worked with a trainer who encouraged her to get her own personal training certification. She did, and began entering bodybuilding competitions. She turned her life around. “The Lord really worked on me throughout the process and showed me that you can be physically fit, but if you're not spiritually or mentally fit, you're not in tune,” Coleman says.

Along the way, she says, God spoke a word to her that she tried to understand. It was “Missfit.” She realized she wasn't a misfit, but rather Ms. Fit, which led her to found the nonprofit organization Misfit's Mission. She opened the beautiful home she called “The Hiding Place” to help other women just released from prison become physically, spiritually and mentally fit as well.

Signs of faith are all over the house! Now women like Amanda are benefiting. Amanda says she had nowhere else to turn when she got out of prison for addiction issues. She says it's a loving, comforting, safe haven, and she's thrilled to be living here for a year and a half while she reorganizes her life and plans for her future.

“What's happening here is very healing, very peaceful and has given me a strong foundation. Coming to Hiding Place was incredible because Tyler walked by my side and she was there for me. I have two children and I just knew I wanted more out of life, I know they deserve better,” Amanda explains.

Her schedule helps her prepare to be with her kids again, and she enjoys video calls with them from the lovely house. They have a busy schedule that keeps them very busy. “We have Misfits training in the morning. Then we do praise and worship together, and then one of the girls works and I go to school. I'm also looking for a part-time job, and on the weekends we go to church. Wednesday nights we have house church, another night a volunteer comes and we do Bible study and Bible journaling,” Amanda says.

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They can bring food to life in a lush backyard garden and work out in a garage gym. But Coleman wants to go a step further and has already secured a spot nearby for a gym. She hopes the ladies can not only work out there, but also work. She hopes to turn it into a for-profit business to support the nonprofit organization The Hiding Place.

She hopes it will give women another chance to brush up on their professional skills at the same time, and hopes investors like the ones who got it all started will help make the dream a reality. The program lasts one to one and a half years and is designed to help women prepare for a successful future.

To find out how you can support their mission, visit their website here.