Thanks to you, he’s writing a new family story. Andre was numbing with drugs and sleeping
at the National Mall. Until one question changed everything . . .
This is the bottom of the bottom, Andre thought when he walked through the Mission’s doors for the first time. He’d been drifting from friends’ couches to trains to long nights sleeping at the National Mall.
Life looked normal not long before this. Andre owned a landscaping company and was raising his son. But when family conflict flared up and financial strain intensified, life started to break down from the inside out. “I started using drugs to cope and run away,” says Andre. “I knew
something was wrong.”
It wasn’t sleeping in a park or his business failing that hurt Andre the most. It was the thought of his son growing up just like Andre did . . . with an absent dad.
Andre’s own father wrestled with addiction and homelessness. With an “in and out” dad, he grew up in the foster care system. “I looked at myself and thought, Do I want this for my son?” says Andre. “It’s a pain I can’t describe,” he says. “But it’s a motivational pain.”
Growing up without a dad was the last thing Andre wanted for his boy.
Andre knows his way to the Mission is no coincidence. He happened to pass his dad on the street one day, not even saying hello . . .
But something tugged at his heart. Andre got his dad’s number from his brother and discovered his dad was in recovery at the Mission.
“He told me to come down here,” says Andre. That step through the doors was the beginning of healing, restoration and a new purpose.
BREAKING GENERATIONAL CYCLES
Because you give, Andre found more than food, shelter and stability. He found a new way to live through anger management classes, life-skills training, workforce development, discipleship and more. He calls the Mission “a unique place” that breaks the stigmas of shelters.
“People in this building really care about you,” says Andre. “You’ve got mother figures. You’ve got father figures. You’ve got friends. It’s a family. If you never felt like you belonged anywhere, you can belong here. The Mission gives you hope to overcome.”
Today, Andre is training to become a peer support advocate, giving back to others at the Mission who are struggling like he once was. He’s mending his family relationships, spending priceless time with his son every weekend. It gives him courage to stop the generational cycle in its tracks.
“My father battled it. I’m battling it. I want to end it with my son,” says Andre. “Central Union Mission has given me tools to help me and guide me. And I’m going to pass them down to my son.”