Eric’s LifeChange Story

Eric is Proof that Anyone Can Change

After 49 years trapped in addiction, Eric was desperate for change. He’d tried to do it on his own but couldn’t. Desperate, he cried out to God. God answered his prayer with a phone call from a man named Luis. Luis works here at the Mission, and he knew Eric from his own time on the street. “When I heard his voice, I didn’t put a face to the name.” Eric says. Eric was getting released the next day and Luis said he’d come pick him up. When he arrived, Eric recognized him. “The last time I’d seen him, we were using together, and he was on the street... He told me that he was the coordinator here at Union Gospel Mission, and could help me change my life.”

How Eric’s Addiction Started

Having been adopted when he was just two-and-a-half years old, Eric never felt like he fit in. His skin was a different color than the rest of his family, and he felt like he didn’t quite fit in at home or at school. “I always got made fun of, teased, so I started lashing back, looking for anybody that would accept me,” Eric says. “I started hanging out with the wrong people, just doing bad things, and finally, I started drinking with them when I was about 13, and I started using meth.” Following the lead of his only friends, Eric began stealing to fuel his addiction. By the time he was 14, he was in juvenile detention. He spent the next several decades in and out of prison.

He Didn’t Know Any Other Way

“It’s been really hard for me coming out of prison not to know what to do,” Eric says. “I just go back to the same thing I always did... because that’s the only thing I knew how to do.” Eric went to multiple treatment programs trying to break the cycle, but nothing worked — until he came to the Mission.

“There’s not any other program that I’ve ever seen that helps you with your life problems. They might help you with recovery, but they don’t help you step by step, like this program has helped me. And they’re not year-long programs. You can’t get your life together in 30 days... I know that for a fact.”

The LifeChange Difference

With the program’s Christ-centered counseling, supportive community and long-term approach to recovery, Eric finally got the tools he needed. “When I got to the program, everybody was really nice, and they were really helpful. A lot of people gave me clothes and stuff that I didn’t have,” Eric says. Having his basic needs met was just the start. As he got deeper into the program, Eric reconnected with God and realized that his life had value. “It’s not just about the recovery part. It’s not about just not using drugs,” he says. “I learned how to socialize with people here. I learned that I’m not any different from anybody else, no matter my skin color, where I come from or what I do, because everybody has their life problems and some people just deal with them better than other people.”

Today, Eric’s life is better than he could have imagined. “I can hold a job now. I can work, and I like working,” he says. “I see the value in doing what I’m doing now... I’ve been doing exceptionally well. I’ve gotten my family back, I’ve gotten my kids back in my life. I’ve got a driver’s license. I can drive. Imagine that! I can do a lot of things I’ve never done before. I came here thinking that it’s going to be a short program, and maybe they would help me do some things, but I never thought that they would help me get everything back in my life that I needed back, that I wanted back in my life.” And because he experienced such a complete transformation, he believes it’s possible for anyone.

“With doing the right things and putting God first in your life, anybody can change,” Eric says. That belief drives everything we do at the Mission — and your support is the fuel that keeps it going!