A second chance

Not only does DARP Processing give former drug addicts a new lease on life, it provides a good poultry product to the community.

By TRAVINA COLEMAN

As far as Leigh Keenan is concerned, the Drug Alcohol Recovery Program has changed her life.

“My 9-year-old said I got my smile and my laugh back,” she said, fighting back the tears. “I can’t help it; I cry over everything now.”

Keenan, 30, has been with DARP for four months now, and she believes it was the best choice she ever made.

“I knew I needed help,” she said. “I had never tried drugs until I was 29. I tried meth, and I was hooked. DARP has totally saved me. It’s brought structure back in my life.”

Now, she has a second chance at life and some help making better choices. That’s exactly what Raymond Jones, DARP founder and CEO, was hoping for.

“Someone gave me a second chance,” Jones said. “And now I am going to do everything I can to make sure others get that second chance, too.”

In that process of reaching out to others, Jones has also created a thriving business.

Nestled in the Cherokee County countryside near Gideon, DARP Processing is in full swing. It’s a modest chicken processing plant that is contributing to the area’s sustainability in a big way.

“We grow our own birds and process them,” Jones said. “And we do it the most organic way possible.”

Jones’ birds are fed an all-natural formula and are allowed to roam freely on the range for 12 hours a day.

“We only put 15,000 birds in a house,” he said. “And we open the doors at 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to let them out. Some other chicken plants will house up to 45,000 in one house, and that is just inhumane.”

Leslie Moyer, of Tahlequah, said the chickens she bought from the plant are the best she’s ever eaten.

“They taste like chicken should taste,” she said.

Inside the plant, the chickens are dressed by hand, and cleaned with vinegar and water. The plant emits no odor and isn’t a nuisance to its neighbors. No blood or entrails ever hit the floor at the plant, and the chicken litter is composted before it’s ever removed from the houses, according to Bryan Hostick, plant manager.

“Everything that goes out of here is federally inspected,” Hostick said.

Before he opened the plant, Jones traveled to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to learn some of the trade secrets from Mennonites.

“We do it the old-fashioned way,” he said.

Gary Rozell and Bill Lamons, neighbors of the chicken plant, have no complaints.

“I met [Jones] five years ago,” Rozell said. “And I think the program is a success. He is always willing to help.”

Lamons is thrilled to have the DARP clients and Jones around his property.

“They are the nicest bunch of kids,” Lamons said. “Raymond is giving them a second shot at life. And the clients I have met are proud to be up there doing that work. I don’t know if he can pick the kids he gets or not, but they are great. I am never worried about them.”

The chickens grown and processed by DARP are currently sold under the name Grandma Nellie’s at Keys Grocery Store. And the processing plant is open to the public, too.

“We process other people’s birds,” Hostick said. “Now they seem much smaller than ours, but it’s OK.”

Ronnie Hicks, of Atoka, is a client with DARP, and the ready smile on his face proves he’s happy to be here.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s a good job. I am learning a lot and am grateful to be here. This really is a second chance for me.”

Hicks said his trouble with methamphetamine began after the death of his 6-month-old daughter.

“She died beside me,” he said. “And I don’t think you ever get over something like that.”

Sebastian Pierre Pritchett, of Detroit, has been at the DARP plant for 30 days.

“I have seen how much the company has grown already,” he said. “I know its potential, and it’s growing into something big. I am a city boy, but I am learning so much here.”

Brandy Bristow, 27, said the job and the program have given her so much.

“It’s made me a different person,” she said. “I am better than I was even before I did drugs.”