Brandon’s 2-year-old daughter was the light of his life. So when Brandon separated from her mother and had to move out, he was devastated. He’d always wanted a family of his own; now it had been stripped away.

“I had zero hope. I was stuck.”

Brandon turned to prescription drugs to fill the void of being away from his daughter, but when they became an addiction, he stopped cold turkey—only to replace the drugs with alcohol, which he could not quit.

“I was ashamed, but I just couldn’t function without it,” he says. “When I thought about my mental health issues and the alcohol, I’d be filled with regret, which just made me drink more. I had zero hope. I was stuck. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get out. I thought I was going to die drinking.”

When he arrived at the Mission, Brandon was hopeless. He was desperate to get his life back, but he felt the battle had already been lost. Yet, over time, through our recovery program, mental health counseling, classes, and Bible studies, he found hope.

“As I went through the program, the Mission became my new home,” he says. “Even after I graduated from the program, I chose to stay on to participate in a job training program because I knew it’s what was best for me. Building a relationship with God is what helped the most.”

“I held a lot of regret, shame, and embarrassment, but at the Mission, I realized I was forgiven.”

Brandon is a powerful example of a life changed. He now works at the Mission and enjoys giving back to others who are struggling as he once did. “I see God working through other people, and that helps me. I hope people can see God working through me, and that helps them as well,” he says.

With Jesus’ love in his heart and hope for the future, Brandon is grateful for your support this Easter. “I feel like I’m a good father and a good role model now. I’m a story that someone else struggling with addiction can look to and think, ‘He made it. I can make it too.’”

Click here to read the full issue of our Easter 2023 Newsletter.