Edward

Hi I’m Edward. Since I’ve been sober at the Mission, my motivation is back in full force. I’ve never witnessed people here who are homeless in this way--feeding them and helping recover their dignity gives me a great perspective on myself.

I grew up as a black sheep of the family in a few ways. In school, I was a mess. Bad experiences led to homeschooling at 9 years old. At 16, I sniffed a bit of heroin someone left at our house, and off I went. For five years I spent a lot of time drinking alcohol, using drugs, stealing money from my family, and trying to avoid violence on the streets. We had lots of fights about addiction until I got clean at 22 years old.

For a long time I stayed sober, helped with the family business, had beautiful children, and earned back respect from well-placed people in the neighborhood. All their lives, my kids never knew that I had been an addict. Then one trip out of town derailed it all. A 14 month binge of alcohol, drugs, hotel rooms, and parties brought me down again. I saw my kids during that time, and they knew what was happening. They came into my hotel room and looked at all of the bottles there. They were in complete disbelief, saying “you couldn’t possibly drink all of this”, but I had.

They dragged me out of the hole I was in, brought me back to Massachusetts, and dropped me off at a detox. After I got clean, I knew I wanted to stay clean. The kids wanted me to come home, but I knew better, and came to the Boston Rescue Mission instead.

A few months living and working here showed me things I had never seen. I’ve never been a witness to homelessness in this way before. I love helping people who are homeless; any way I can restore or preserve dignity to someone feels like a great gift I can give. Working steadily is a great idea for me, especially donating time to this place that’s helping me. I’m working here and at another agency too, because the worst thing in recovery is to be bored. Boredom eats your mind up. I prefer to stay busy and stay sober.