ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Learning to live again after coming out of prison is a community effort for some women in Allentown thanks to SELF! House.

The home, and the women who run it, are being honored by the Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter of the American Red Cross this week as Lehigh Valley Heroes.

There is room to breathe here.

Space to reclaim what you’ve lost and sometimes start something new.

“We are at SELF! house,” says Co-Founder Enid Santiago.

It’s a home in Allentown for women who are just coming out of prison or who have been through other trauma that need to re-enter society- founded on the idea that everyone deserves another chance.

A principle that Founder Luna Fernandez lives by.

“She spent 10 years incarcerated and SELF! was born out of her life struggles. So, this was her vision, the SELF! House,” Enid explains.

Enid says there’s an active waiting list- there are rooms for 5 women.

Ideally, they stay for a year, get their paperwork in order, find a job, create a life, all while having the support to succeed.

“It means independence, it means life literally is oxygen for them to be able to walk in here and say ‘Wow’,” says Enid.

They say re-entry starts the day you walk into the prison, not the day you walk out. So, deciding where you go after matters.

This home is for the women who do not have a place to go. This home can be an option, and for many means freedom.

“You always want to set them up for success. And this is one of the places that I adore the most… it’s a big complete life change for anybody, you know, especially when you don’t think you have anybody…and this is one house that will give you everything and anything,” volunteer Liz Villanueva explains.

“This is a lot of pride seeing someone the way that they walk in here, broken, their head is down and seeing them walk out with their shoulder. yourself laughing, making jokes, and a whole different human is you can’t pay for that feeling. It’s indescribable,” says Enid.

Each letter in the name means something- SELF! stands for Strongly Embracing Life’s Future, and here it starts with a room to call your own.