YOU gave Mike a home for the holidays and tools to rebuild
He struggled to break the cycle. . .
Mike slid under his bedframe with a blanket. Earlier in the day, his neighbors told him they were going to shoot him. And that was only one of the death threats.
Mike was living in an apartment complex overrun by drugs. “It was the lowest point in my life and the only thing I could afford,” he says. One day, he decided to give up his apartment for his own safety.
Mike had already struggled through homelessness off and on for ten years. He calls that chapter in his story a roller coaster. He can trace it all back to drug and alcohol abuse that started as a teenager. “I was trying to escape trauma,” says Mike. He left home before finishing high school and has been on his own since.
A LIFE-ALTERING DECISION
Whenever Mike landed a job and started getting back on his feet, he would self-sabotage and return to numbing with drugs. “It’s a cycle I couldn’t break,” he says. “I just couldn’t stay clean. . . until I prayed to God and gave my life to him.”
After experiencing the mercy of Jesus, Mike couldn’t stand the thought of falling back into his old cycles. He knew if he was going to be victorious and build a new life, he couldn’t stay in that apartment, afraid and alone.
STEP BY STEP
Mike arrived at the Mission during the holidays, homeless. Like many men who walk through our shelter doors, his transformation wasn’t immediate.
“For four months, I was an overnight guest,” says Mike. “I started volunteering making beds.”
Someone on staff noticed and encouraged Mike to join the Restoration and Transformation Program (RTP). A year later, he graduated. . . thanks to you.
You didn’t just give Mike a safe place to sleep when he had nowhere to go. You gave him
the tools to live in sobriety, find a career and establish self-sufficiency.
“I kept my faith and started believing for a new job,” says Mike. “The Mission helped me get a full-time job. It’s the best, highest-paying job I’ve ever had.”
Simple necessities like stable housing and a car now feel within reach. So much so that Mike feels free to dream bigger. “I’d like to be able to travel,” he says. “I want to go to Jerusalem and trace the places Jesus went.”
“I am so thankful just to be alive,” says Mike. “I’m thankful for the Mission and for God putting my life back together in a way I didn’t expect.” Thank you!