How Hanna Found True Meaning in Her Life

I was tired physically and tired of feeling empty. I had no hope for the future—no hope at all. I was tired of using drugs and alcohol, and going in and out of jail. My relationship with my children was non-existent. I felt empty, hollow, and I had no connection with people. I didn’t even know how to talk to people.

A friend of mine who had gone through the program at the Washington City Mission’s Avis Arbor Women and Children’s Shelter told me how really good the program was and that it was Christian based. Her life was turned around, and I wanted what she had!

I needed to get my life back. I wanted a closer relationship with God and with my family. I wanted to be strong again—physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Going through the program taught me to have respect for myself and to get back into having a healthy routine in my life.

While at Avis, I was able to work through a lot of my problems, and I learned to leave the past in the past, live in the present and look to the future. I learned how to manage my finances as well as develop skills such as telephone etiquette and how to process clothing donations. More importantly, I learned how to be around people again and how to communicate.

I think one of the best things that happened to me while staying at Avis Arbor was having my youngest child spend weekends with me—that was wonderful! It was a safe environment to let my family’s healing begin.

Avis Arbor helped me rebuild relationships with my family.

Now I attend church every Sunday and have just committed to a one-year Bible study every Wednesday at my church.

Very shortly I will be moving into my own place. Imagine—my children and grandchildren can visit me in MY OWN HOME! And, because I was taught at Avis how to manage my life by taking care of myself and those I love, I now can properly love and care for my family when they come to visit!

I have become a positive role model for my children; I have a strong faith in the Lord; I believe in myself. I even volunteer at Avis Arbor.

I no longer feel worthless or hopeless—there is true meaning and joy in my life!

The women who come to Avis Arbor for help have different backgrounds and a lot of pain but we all have the same goal—healing in mind, body and soul. Thank you for making a difference and helping us learn how to live productive lives!

God Bless You!
Hanna

Steve Adams "There has to be more to life than this"

Steve Adams will never forget the events of June 11th,1996. It was a Tuesday and began the way most other days had for Steve in recent years. He awoke with the same ache inside that demanded plenty of the drug he was currently using.

He’d used all kinds of drugs since coming home from Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990’s. Military service wasn’t the cause of his drug use, but it made the relief the drugs provided more urgent.

So that morning he looked around the flea-bitten room he lived in and thought about his next fix. It was a miserable place and he was a wreck of a man – skinny, malnourished and foul. When the people living above him ran the tap or flushed the toilet the basement underneath him filled higher with water, which reeked into his room.

Then someone said in a powerful, pure voice, “There has to be more to life than this.”

There was no one else in the room but Steve, but as soon as he heard the voice he could not resist getting up and immediately leaving the room. An irresistible authority compelled him to walk straight to the Washington State Police Barracks and tell them he needed help from the drug addiction that was killing him.

Steve would never have gone near a police station without force. He knew he had outstanding warrants against him from a neighboring state that would lock him up for years. Nonetheless, he was in front of a policeman asking for help.

They looked him up in the computer but found no offense on record against him. Steve knew that wasn’t right. They must have looked up the wrong name. But no; the computer found nothing at all. The policeman told him of a place to spend the night and the next day Steven went to the Washington City Mission.

He ate a simple lunch at the Mission that tasted better than any food he could remember. He lay on a basic cot that was more comfortable to him than the softest mattress with highest grade cotton sheets. His life had changed in the space of a moment by a voice from where? Heaven?

It was the first of many God moments” says Steve. “I was new, but I was still a piece of work. I gave the Mission staff a hard time. But they saw something in me that I couldn’t see. And they loved me through the hard days that followed. They told me to be ‘me’ and that I would be better soon. Now I’ve graduated from their programs but my heart is with the Mission. They taught me to love other people and make something of my life.”

It’s more than 12 years since June 11th 1996. Since then Steve has excelled academically. He is married, with children and works as a drug and alcohol therapist in Pittsburgh. He also keeps close ties with life-long friends at the Mission.