Looking back on his life, Ken can see the ups and downs that brought him where he is today. “I was born with a cleft palate,” he says. “I had years of therapy just to be able to talk.” He was brought up in Catholic school and served in the Navy as an adult. Drug use nearly derailed his life at one point. “Addiction had me for a while, but when I looked at my bank book and saw what it was costing, I quit cold turkey.”
Even without the weight of drug addiction, Ken experienced homelessness at times. “I spent a winter living at the bottom of an enclosed fire escape,” he remembers, “which wasn’t as bad of a situation as it could have been.”
After suffering a stroke later in life, he began the long process of recovery. But before he recovered, he was evicted from his home. With nowhere to turn, unable to afford rent for a new home, Ken came to the Allentown Rescue Mission.
“Coming here gave me hope at a time when I had none.”
Before long, Ken was admitted into the Transformation Program and joined the Clean Team. He saw a parallel between his work at the Allentown Rescue Mission and his time serving in the Navy. “Do a good job, don’t cause trouble and you’ll get right along.”
He also found comfort in the faith-based environment, feeling that it kept people on track for recovery and deescalated strife. “It calms everybody down,” he says. “Disputes are always handled with grace. People aren’t just kicked out, and that surprised me.”
Looking forward to his future, Ken feels prepared. “Before coming here, I was depressed. Now I have hope. I have some money saved up to help me get settled, and I’ve made friends here that I’ll keep even after I’ve moved out.”
This Easter, Ken has a new direction for his life. Thank you for lighting the path forward for him to experience a future of hope and peace! “I’m not weighed down by depression like I was before. I used to feel like a failure, but I know that’s not true now.”