Not too long ago, Stefanie was all too familiar with the word “no.”
When her family found out about her drug addiction, they kicked her out, thinking she would get help. She ended up sleeping on the streets.
“The scary part is not knowing how you’re going to get your next meal or what the weather’s going to be like for the night,” Stefanie says.
Out in the cold, and feeling trapped in her addiction, Stefanie knew she needed help. So she began reaching out to shelters and recovery facilities.
Everyone Else Said “No”
“It’s really hard to figure out where to go,” she says. “I wondered, ‘How am I going to survive the night?’ I found myself researching a lot of different places and I hit roadblocks. A lot of places wouldn’t accept me because I had substance abuse disorder. Other places wouldn’t accept me because I’m a female.”
No matter what the circumstances are, being homeless for the first time is frightening—especially as a woman.
“The idea of being rejected makes it even worse. In those moments you feel like you’ve lost everything. You’ve lost all hope. You wonder, ‘Why even bother living? Why go on?’ It’s hard to see that light at the end of the tunnel,” Stefanie says.
A Life-Changing “Yes!”
Stefanie experienced a flicker of hope when she reached out to the Mission and found out we could take her. Our Search and Rescue Team went to pick her up.
“It definitely gave me a little bit of hope when I felt like there was none,” Stefanie says. “It meant the world to me because I didn’t have my own transportation. All I had to do is sit right there and someone was coming to my aid.”
Stefanie entered our Women’s New Life Recovery Program, where she completed a one-year residential treatment program. Here she began to build positive relationships for the first time in years.
“We weren’t created to be alone,” Stefanie says. “And without a support network, people that you love and healthy friendships, recovery isn’t possible.”
Saying “Yes” to Others
Stefanie not only graduated from our New Life Program, she’s decided to dedicate her life to helping people who were in situations just like hers. She works at Comprehensive Life Resources and helps connect people to the services they need so that they can feel accepted and experience true life change.
“It’s a relief knowing that there is a program in place to offer help for people who are in need of it like myself,” she says.
This program wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for people like you. Thank you so much for saying “yes”! Thank you for accepting the people that everyone else has rejected, and for changing lives.
