‘Everybody deserves a second chance.’ Shelter director uses past to help others now

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    TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY, NC (WLOS) — Emily Lowery of Transylvania County received a governor’s pardon from the state of South Carolina in March, clearing her record of a felony charge. Lowery has also submitted an expungement application to the state of North Carolina to erase her criminal record.

Lowery sought these pardons because she left behind a life of addiction to pursue a life of helping others in need.

Lowery is the executive director of The Haven of Transylvania County, a homeless shelter located in downtown Brevard. She has improved services at the shelter by sending grant proposals to various organizations. The shelter received a new mini van and four new acoustic guitars from Lowery’s grant writing efforts.

“We wrote a grant to ‘Guitars for Good’ where guitarist donate guitars and they put music in the shelters,” Lowery said as she picked up a new guitar and sang a hymn with one of her employees in the lobby of the Haven.

Singing for the residents is just one way Lowery helps ease the burden of being homeless. She also uses her life experiences to encourage those finding themselves at rock bottom.

“I do know what it is like not to know where I’m going to eat next,” Lowery said. “I do know what it is like to not know where I’m going to sleep at night.”

14 years ago, Lowery was a substance abuser.

“I did everything that was on the streets at the time,” said Lowery. “The only drug I never used was heroin. I was afraid to do heroin because you could get addicted to that. I didn’t think I had a problem with methamphetamine. I didn’t think I had a problem with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or any of those.”

Not being able to keep a job, Lowery started manufacturing and selling methamphetamine. This lead to several arrests in North and South Carolina.

“That last time I went to jail, I was like, ‘man, I’m tired of this, there has to be a better way,’” said Lowery.

In jail, a chaplain gave Lowery a recovery bible. She began a Christian centered 12-step recovery program.

“For once in my life, I was clean,” said Lowery. “I had a sound mind. I could really see and understand things in a different way.”

Lowery completed a six-month sentence and began the long road to recovery. She found a job in Brevard and continued working on the 12 steps. One of the steps involved volunteer work.

“I quickly started volunteering at my church. I started volunteering here at the homeless shelter and giving back,” Lowery said.

The Haven of Transylvania County had just opened in Brevard when Lowery was looking for places to volunteer. She felt a homeless shelter was the perfect place for her to get involved. Lowery shared her story of being addicted and homeless with residents of the new shelter hoping to inspire others to get sober. She also shared her story with Haven board members.

“It wasn’t too long after that, the president of the board came to me and asked me to have coffee and asked me to be the homeless representative on the board,” said Lowery. “Of course I took that!”

Soon Lowery moved from volunteer to employee.

“The staff and the board here saw my work ethics and offered me a job.” Lowery said.

Over the next several years, Lowery worked her way up until the board decided to offer her the position of executive director. She took the position.

A couple years after becoming the director, the board members that hired Lowery had left and new board members were in charge.

”I had a board meeting and I had to tell them all over again what my past entailed,” said Lowery. “A lot of them were surprised.”

That reaction lead Lowery to take steps to insure she could continue helping others. She asked for, and received, a governor’s pardon from South Carolina.

“Everybody does deserve a second chance,” Lowery said softly and emotionally.

Lowery said she hopes her story will continue inspiring others that come through the Haven’s doors.

“My experiences are to be used for the greater good,” said Lowery.

Lowery also has charges here in North Carolina. She submitted a petition to the governor’s office to have her record expunged. This past weekend she received a letter from the governor’s office granting her a court date in October to plead her case. She said she hopes North Carolina will follow South Carolina in granting her a clean record.

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