Four months ago, seven lucky women walked along the side of Sharon Road, picking up trash.
It was the anniversary and the site of the saddest day in Denisea Marengo’s life. But watching the women work was a reminder of how the legacy of her son’s memory lives on and helps others live better. She finds peace on the seventh anniversary of his deadly crash by coming out to remind herself of how many lives he has touched, perhaps even extended.
Zac Ainsworth was 19 when he crashed on this stretch of road and later died from his injuries in October 2007. He had struggled with an addiction to drugs, but with the help of Dying To Live Ministries at Christ’s Church, he was on his way to recovery when his life came to a tragic end. Since then, the Z.A.C. House — Zeal And Compassion — was established in 2011 as a residence and faith-based treatment center for women who are dealing with the demon of addiction. It’s a place where women get the care, nurturing, instruction and spiritual guidance they need to get away from drugs and go toward God. Dozens who have come through the door of the home have walked out as new women. And it’s all because of Ainsworth. That’s a comfort to his mother, especially on difficult days.
“Knowing that there is a place, here in Laurel, giving ladies, mothers and daughters that chance to recover and restore, in memory of the restoration that my Zac received, not only touches my heart, but allows Zac’s memory to live on in a positive way,” she said.
Marengo remembers Zac as “a great son,” who lost his way at 15 and started to venture down a destructive path.
“His choices in friends and recreation led to a life he became ashamed of,” she said. “Until the day came that he hit his lowest low, he finally reached up, calling out to the source that was his only hope, Jesus Christ.”
It took him reaching his low point for him to look up, which is the way it usually goes for addicts, Marengo said.
“Most people who struggle with addictions and bad choices must hit rock bottom before reaching up,” she said. “Thank God for Dying To Live Ministries at Christ’s Church. Zac ran to the ministry and found his true peace one month before his wreck.”
Because of his death, dozens of women from the area are learning to live the right way. Z.A.C. House offers six months of residential recovery for up to 10 women at a time at a cost of $3,000. During that time, the women get individual and group counseling, Bible-based skill and parenting classes, 12-step recovery meetings, regular exercise and church services, and are responsible for household chores. It’s often a last resort for women whose families and friends have been forced to cut ties with them. They are helped by a pastoral staff made up of people who are experienced and certified alcohol and drug counselors.
“The Z.A.C. House is more than just a place to get sober, it is a discipleship program where everything from attitude to actions are expected to change,” according to DTL’s description of the facility and its mission. “We offer the most efficient service and care for the least possible cost.”
Each year, on the anniversary of her son’s death, Marengo tries to find an uplifting way to remember her son’s life.
“What better way than spend time with the Z.A.C. ladies?” she said. “Just being surrounded by them made me feel even closer to my son.”
Cleaning up trash on the road is the easy part for them. Cleaning up their lives is what takes hard work.
There’s a one-mile stretch of Sharon Road that’s part of the Adopt-a-Highway program, in Ainsworth’s memory. It’s where he crashed on Oct. 5, 2007. Drugs had nothing to do with his crash, his mother said. He had started cleaning up his life before he died, she said. The note he wrote one month to the day before he was buried still brings tears and comfort to Marengo and his other loved ones: “I am so sorry for being lost and such a disgrace for so long, but I am now found, and the old Zac, with God in him, is back and better than ever!”
The words continue to inspire those in the home that’s named for him.
“I think Zac’s written statement sums up what the Z.A.C. ladies felt, and any one that is tired of the road of addiction and pain feels,” Marengo said. “I miss my son, but his legacy lives on in each person Z.A.C. House and Dying To Live has ever touched.”
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