How we got here
Camp Kadesh was founded by Chris Applegate, who spent seven years incarcerated and came home to find that landlords wouldn't even let him fill out an application. He knew firsthand that the people who need housing the most are often the ones least likely to get it — and that the gap between release and stability is where people fall back in. What started as a piece of rural land in Owen County, Kentucky became something more: a small community of furnished living spaces, walking trails, a garden, a fire ring, and neighbors who check on each other. Camp Kadesh is small by design. The goal isn't scale for its own sake — it's connection, accountability, and a genuine shot at a different life. The name comes from the Hebrew word for a place set apart, a refuge or sanctuary. That's what we're trying to build.
Who we serve
The common thread among Camp Kadesh residents isn't a single background or a single story. It's a crisis point: housing instability at a moment when stable housing is the difference between recovery and collapse, between staying out and going back. In practice, the people we serve are those whose lives intersect housing instability with at least one of the following: recent release from incarceration, active probation or parole supervision, recent discharge from a substance use treatment program, or pending legal matters where a stable address is required. These situations overlap more often than they exist in isolation. Camp Kadesh is a sober living environment. Residents are expected to maintain sobriety as a condition of the program, not as a judgment about who they are, but as a recognition that recovery and reentry require a stable, substance-free foundation. Beyond these parameters, we don't sort people by the severity of their record, the length of their sentence, or the nature of their past. If you need a place to land and you're ready to do the work of rebuilding, we want to hear from you.
What we offer
Camp Kadesh is located on approximately two acres of rural land in Corinth, Kentucky. We currently offer four furnished RV living units with private spaces for each resident, along with shared amenities including walking trails, a garden, a fire ring, hammock spaces, shared water service, and internet access. It's not luxury. It's not supposed to be. It's meant to be quiet, stable, and real, a place where you can breathe, make a plan, and take the next step without the chaos that usually surrounds reentry.
How you can help
Camp Kadesh is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible and go directly toward housing, programming, and operational costs. But money isn't the only way to help. We're also looking for people who want to be part of this community, whether that means volunteering your time, sharing our story, or simply believing that people deserve a second chance and saying so out loud. If you're an employer willing to consider hiring people with records, we especially want to talk to you.