Marty smiles a lot these days. And those smiles are thanks to God’s goodness and the generosity of friends like you, which helped him change his entire life – and has made it possible for him to help other people change their lives.
Marty volunteers in our kitchen, where he helps serve meals that people like you provide. But last year, he was the one being served.
“When I was out on the streets, I didn’t know when my next meal was going to be,” he says.
Marty had gone through a brutal divorce which left him homeless. He began drinking more and more. Soon, it became the only way he could sleep.
One day, as he walked towards the bar, Marty felt God telling him that He had better plans for him. Marty knew he
couldn’t get there alone. Thankfully, he’d heard about the Tacoma Rescue Mission.
“I knew that the Mission was here,” Marty explains, “I knew that they had shelter, that they had food . . . It gave me a boost knowing I could be fed.”
Marty got connected to our other resources and joined our New Life Recovery Program. Through the classes in our program, Marty learned how to put down the bottle and not pick it up again. He grew in his faith and learned how to work through his grief in a healthy way.
He was in the recovery program last Thanksgiving and not only got to enjoy delicious food, but got to see the impact a good, holiday meal had on the other guests who had come in out of the cold.
“I heard people say on Thanksgiving that this reminded them of childhood Thanksgiving. They were able to reminisce about good times rather than be focused on their situation,” he remembers.
Marty just graduated from our recovery program and has a job lined up working at our new thrift store!
Because of the generosity of friends like you, Marty has been able to reach the goals he set for himself back when he first came to the Mission for a meal.
“There is hope in this Mission,” Marty says. “I was able to accomplish the goals that I set for this year: I wanted to get well and get new coping skills. I’ve done that. I wanted to get the basics, like employment. And while I was reaching those goals, I found who I was. . . not who somebody else thought I was, but who I was in Christ.”
Your gift of Thanksgiving meals can help transform someone else’s life! You can visit our giving page to provide the gift of a meal for just $4.11 today.
