The Stories
Construction Worker - John
A Success Story
John is making up for lost time. Three years ago, everything he owned fit into a backpack. He was stuck in a perpetual cycle of homelessness, addiction and crime, splitting his time between a park bench and prison. In stark contrast to his former life, John, who will soon marry, makes a comfortable living restoring older homes. He recently moved from a one-bedroom apartment to a larger two-bedroom apartment, proudly needing a truck to move his belongings! Having a permanent home and the means to furnish it is a relatively new concept for this 54-year-old recovering alcoholic.
A Life of Addiction
John has been addicted to alcohol for most of his life. At age 18, his family relocated to the Tampa Bay area. He immediately fell in with the wrong crowd and embraced the party life. First it was just drinking on weekends with friends but it quickly became a daily ritual. When his friends went home because they had to get up for work, John would stay out all night. Alcohol took control over his life, and within a few short months he was unable to keep a job. Increasingly powerless over his addiction, John's problems were just beginning.
John was arrested for the first time in 1974 for burglary and drug possession and served 18 months in prison. Upon regaining his freedom, he immediately fell into a routine of binge drinking, and held and lost a series of low-wage jobs. He relied on the kindness of family and friends for meals and a place to sleep, but his addiction to alcohol was too powerful. He burned through friendships and lost the trust of his family after borrowing money for bus fare or a job search and spending it on alcohol. Helpless to control his addiction, John became homeless.
During the next 30 years, John was either homeless or in prison. He was arrested seven more times on petty theft charges and spent a total of 26 years behind bars. John would serve jail time, be released, and inevitably get caught stealing a $3 bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer. Prison became a place where he could sober up and escape from the day-to-day temptation of stealing alcohol to feed his addiction. On the streets, he slept on a park bench, ate at soup kitchens and prayed for his life to end.
The Crossroads
Mercifully, John found himself at a crossroads in 2004. In jail awaiting sentencing on another petty theft charge, he realized that without intervention he would die in prison. Desperate for help, he appeared before the judge and pleaded for help. John knew incarceration was not a deterrent, but merely a temporary fix for a problem clearly beyond his control. Reluctantly, the judge granted him one final chance to turn his life around and ordered him to complete a six-month alcohol treatment program.
The Road to Recovery
John entered treatment doubting whether he could be rehabilitated, but with each passing day he began to feel better. Fear and despair were replaced with hope as he learned the skills to deal with alcoholism.
John's triumphant recovery surprised everybody, including himself. He successfully completed back-to-back recovery programs and proudly earned coins for sobriety from Alcoholics Anonymous. John found a job - the same one he holds today - earned his driver's license, rented his first apartment, opened a bank account and purchased a car. But his ultimate victory came when he was released early from probation by the very same judge who had reluctantly given him a chance at sobriety. John's only regret is that his mother, who tried valiantly to save him from a life on the streets, didn't live long enough to see her son’s transformation.
Life Now
John has been sober for three years and lives the full, clean life he never thought possible. He is unabashedly grateful to the people who helped him break the cycle of homelessness and addiction. He sometimes visits the same park where he used to sleep and reaches out to others who struggle as he did. He knows they may not accept the help today, but he still tries, knowing that they might tomorrow.
