Madison College Grad Turns Life Around

With help from YWCA, former drug addict becomes community leader
By SAMARA KALK DERBY | skalk[at] madison [dot] com | 608-252-6439 | Posted: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 5:22 pm | Wisconsin State Journal

Jackie Hunt began smoking and drinking at age 12. In high school she got into marijuana and cocaine. By her early 20s she was hooked on crack cocaine and began to sell it.

In 1993, her Fitchburg duplex was raided, and Hunt wound up doing 13 months in prison. During that time, she had her fourth child, cleared the drugs out of her system and reflected.

"I took a look at my life: where I was, what I was doing, the harm I was doing to my children," said Hunt, seated in her neat Downtown office at the Mental Health Center of Dane County, where she has been a state-certified drug and alcohol counselor for more than 10 years.

Hunt, 48, will talk about her journey Thursday at the YWCA's 7th annual Circle of Women luncheon, which last year was attended by nearly 1,000 people.

The single mother of seven children - two of them foster children she adopted last July - Hunt said she owes a lot to ARC Community Services' maternal and infant program, which assists former female offenders and supports new mothers. It provided "tough love" for six months after she was released from prison, Hunt said.

After that, in February 1996, Hunt spent another six months in the YWCA's Third Street program, which she describes as a "safe haven." Covering two floors of the Downtown YWCA, it provides affordable apartments and support services to single moms with one child under 4 years old.

"Jackie Hunt is one of those people that make you know that the programs like at the YWCA are worthwhile," said Nancy Wrenn Bauch, who runs Third Street.

With support and opportunity, Hunt has "become a star" with so much to give back to her kids and the community, said Bauch, who now considers Hunt a colleague and a friend.

Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Hunt owns a four-bedroom home on Madison's Southwest Side and recently reduced her job to part time in preparation to go back to school for a bachelor's degree. Her goal is to earn a master's in social welfare. She already has an associate's degree from Madison Area Technical College, where in 1999 she gave the commencement address.

In the community, Hunt is "Aunt Jackie" to countless families and does volunteer work in the Allied Drive area. She served a two-year term on the YWCA board in 2002-2003, the first former client to join the board, according to YWCA officials. In her office, in addition to dozens of photos of her children and three grandchildren, hang eight plaques and certificates.

"To whom much has been given, much more is required - and I have been given a lot," Hunt said. "I don't think it's done, my story. At least I hope it's not."