Shattered, But Not Broken
STORY By Sasha Tuddenham
An eight-year-old addict changed Kelly Lyndgaard’s life.
While attending a women’s event at her church, Kelly heard the story of an addict. When this woman was only eight years old, her mother became ill with lupus. This left the young girl to care for her mother, herself, and her younger brother. At that time, a 15 year-old offered her marijauna. Soon, she was a homeless drug addict.
“Drugs and alcohol are not the problem; they were used as the solution,” Kelly recalls.
That was a turning point in Kelly’s understanding of addiction and how easy it is to lose control of life. Kelly decided to take action and got involved in a recovery program in the Hudson Valley. It was here that she noticed a flaw in the system.
After people complete a recovery program, many return to the same situation from which they needed to escape: no job skills, no education, and no safe community to call home. In such an environment, it becomes difficult to stay sober when facing the same circumstances that caused someone to turn to drugs or alcohol.
Making these observations, Kelly realized that she held business expertise that could contribute to a social enterprise. She could help these women gain important job skills, work experience, and create a community of like-minded women who are committed to sobriety.
This was the beginning of Unshattered.
Over four years ago, Kelly left her career at IBM, taking her training as an engineering physicist to build a nonprofit with an emphasis on “comprehensive wellness.”
Kelly first partnered with Hoving Home, a residential sobriety program. Eventually, she expanded to other residential programs to provide women safe places to go when their year-long stay at a recovery home ends.
The goal is to give these women economic independence by teaching them usable skills while creating handbags. When starting a job at Unshattered, the women go through a 10-week training program. They learn everything from how to sew to the basics of employment, as well as develop leadership and problem solving skills. They also attend workshops including cell phone use at work, how to dress, how to show up on time, and how to be productive. After the training program, the women are able to start working at Unshattered.
“I did not see the potential in people who were struggling with addiction and now I do,” Kelly says. “What I’ve learned is that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.”
Painting by Jamie Goodman
Through the profits from selling bags and additional donations, they have provided job training for 135 women and have created full time employment for 25. Those who do not remain on the Unshattered staff generally pursue higher education or return to their former careers. One hundred percent of the women involved in the program remain sober throughout their time at Unshattered.
The business actually grew amid the COVID-19 pandemic, employing four more women. For over three months, Unshattered pivoted their production to only making masks. They were able to support the community, while continuing to pay the wages for the women in the program. The company was forced to move online, but they continued to succeed. Unshattered was even able to start including therapeutic counseling as a part of employees’ benefits.
“My job is to run ahead of them and to knock down the barriers, giving them the opportunity and the power to make the choices, while cheering them on,” Kelly says.
Kelly’s engineer mindset allows her to help the women at Unshattered in an unparalleled way. Her training in physics and engineering enables her to notice patterns and devise a solution as to what the women are capable of, their strong suits, and their goals.
“Their words tell me how they think,” Kelly explains. “Their behavior tells me what they actually believe.”
Seeing their bags in the community adds a sense of connection and pride not only for the women who make them, but also for Kelly. Her mom taught her how to sew when she was young, leading her to make handbags for years to come.
Kelly’s favorite handbag honors her grandfather. Having his suede coat hanging in her closet for years, Kelly could never wear it because it was missing buttons and torn at the seams. One day, she came up with the idea to turn the jacket into a bag she could use everyday.
This sparked Kelly’s idea to have the women in the Unshattered program repurpose old clothing and transform them into handbags with meaning.
Kelly ensures that each bag has a unique quality, which she calls “the secrets of the bags.” Each bag has a hidden message sewn into the seams from the seamstress. This can be anything from a prayer or the number of days she has been sober. Each bag is also named after someone who is healing from addiction.
Finally, in every bag, there is a golden thread sewn in each product to honor the Japanese art form Kintusigi. The traditional art form uses gold lacquer to repair pottery that has shattered. It is a symbol for becoming more beautiful after being broken and finding the courage to piece yourself back together.
Unshattered hopes to move to a larger building to employ more women in recovery. They also plan to expand their partnership with Marist to give more students a chance at hands-on opportunities.
FOR THE RECORD UNCUT
OBJECT PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography by Bobby Oliver
For this year’s project, we asked our Changemakers to bring items that had meaning to them to the shoot.
“I brought a handbag crafted from a Broadway set by my team at Unshattered. I'm the Founder of Unshattered - a 501c3 nonprofit organization that is ending the addiction relapse cycle through sustainable fashion. We employ women in recovery to help them get back on their feet economically and maintain their sobriety. The women of Unshattered make handbags from upcycled materials such as this one.
My father's wedding ring - he passed unexpectedly in March of 2020 at the young age of 69. I also included a ring my husband made out of a walnut tree that stood in my great-grandparent's backyard.
My best friend's running shoes. We ran MANY MANY miles together, typically training to run 3-4 half marathons together every year. When I moved to NY she came to visit from MN and left her running shoes at my house so she would have a pair to use when she comes to visit.”