Hi. I’m Randy. My home life as a child was definitely not the greatest. I grew up with an alcoholic father who drove my mother and sister away when I was twelve. After suffering years of physical abuse, I escaped to my grandparents home and made it into college, but then struggled with the emotional weight of past experiences and began to drink heavily and use drugs. Two years later, my education became the first casualty of my new addictions.

For the next twelve years, I bounced between short-term positions and became increasingly dependent on drugs and alcohol until a tragic event left a loved one clinging to life. Ironically, the post-traumatic stress of that event sobered me and I then started and ran a small construction business.

But because I hadn’t addressed any of the core issues that drove me into addiction, I eventually destabilized, plunged into relapse, and smoked insane amounts of cocaine. I smoked away a whole construction business before finally landing in jail. Lucky for me, the Boston Rescue Mission had exactly what I needed. In the staff, I saw a peace and a concern about others that is completely opposite from the world of the self-centered alcoholic. Here I came to understand that Jesus is love; I was finally able to put my shame and guilt at the foot of the cross and submit to the will of God. I’m so grateful to the Mission and its supporters for teaching me responsibility and direction—a purpose, and a way to arrive there.