Mr. R had lost his will to live shortly after separating from his wife of many years of marriage.  He was only allowed limited visits with his young daughters.  He came to live at our men's home in February
 and joined our Sunday night Pot-luck and Bible study.  He also started volunteering with his church and other organizations in the Bend area.  He became involved with many supportive people and through a lot of hard work on his part has found his hope again.  He worked very hard to gain employment as he was dealing with his age and a new career area.  I am so excited to tell his story of hard work paying off, he now has full time employment and a part time job as well.  He has met a nice lady with a daughter, who really appreciates him.  In December he moved out of our men's home with mixed feelings of leaving his support system and excited about his new life.  We are thrilled we could play a part in his recovery, and will be there in the future as friends.

*****

Ms. S. She was very young when she came to our first HOHM home in Bend 2003.  She had a daughter who lived with her parents.  She dealt with addictions, bad choices, incarceration, and an abusive boyfriend.  After a time of ups and downs, she was asked to leave our house due to her inability to follow the rules.  Five years later she looked me up and told me she had gone to prison after leaving our home and the positive impact it had on her as it provided a time for her to stop and think about her life. Two years later she called me to say I have found a great Christian man and married him.  I have a new baby son and am earning a degree at COCC as a Drug & Alcohol Counselor.  She continues to express that she owes her success partly to HOHM, as it was her starting place, she just wasn't ready yet.

*****

Ms. K and her teenage daughter came to us from another town in CO.  A Pastor was helping her find housing and told her about HOHM homes.  She had been dealing with Cancer and two recent surgeries when her daughter was asulted.  Her daughter became very fearful to even stay in their home.  She came to a HOHM home, and has gained confidence once again and is becoming a happy teenager.  Her mother's Cancer is being taken care of and they are starting to have hope again.  They have joined in the house meetings  and pray time, giving God the credit for their safety and healing.  Ms. K, recently had extreem pain and went again to the hospital, when they wanted to give her pain medication she stated I don't want to take those drugs. She asked if they had a Bible, and she read it and prayed and the pain went away.  Once again giving God all the credit for her recovery.

*****

Ms. M and Ms. P, recently came to Central Oregon to find a safe place to live together, as they only have each other.  They had been sleeping in a tent and other places along the way.  Been homeless for over a year, both have to use canes to get around. Suffer from many health issues and mourning the death of a daughter in October.  They are very happy to be at HOHM home and are a great asset to the home.

*****

Mr. R has just celebrated nine months clean and sober, he has been in many programs but never had this much success.  He has been working since he came to us and is now enrolled at COCC.  Having a clean and sober living environment has helped him stay on track and stay focused.  He is always willing to give people rides to meetings and attends meetings on a regular basis. 

*****

The personal event in Miss R’s life, that led her into homelessness and the feeling of no hope. 

She came to Central Oregon to start over and get a job.  She found no employment, and soon had only her car to shelter her; as her money soon ran out. By now it is December and too cool to sleep in her car.  She had a friend back home who paid for her stay at HOHM’s home.  In a few short months her friend had come upon hard times and was not able to help her any longer.  She was facing going back to sleeping in her car.

I asked her if she had ever considered going to college.  Her confidence was very low, but she agreed to try. Now, five months later, she is working part time and attending classes at COCC, in her second term.

She is just one example of the ever-increasing homeless population in our community. She now has a positive plan for her future.  She is truly a changed person.

*****

I am Mr. M.  I came to HOHM about four years ago.  I was very anxious and had a lot of difficulty going out in public.  I truly needed a safe and supportive home to live in for my mental stability.

I knew I had to support myself, so I worked three days a week answering phones.  That job was soon to end, so what was I to do?

With the confidence I had gained at HOHM and encouraging support from HOHM manager, I started the process of entering college. After a year in college and receiving all A’s, and one B, I am well on my way to obtain my degree.  I feel I will be ready to move out on my own, but I know I will always have my extended family from HOHM.

*****

Miss C. came to HOHM’s home three years ago, was still grieving the loss of a young son, and the death of her mother.

At one time she had done some modeling, been married, but now her remaining son is with her ex-husband.  She was sober when she came but soon after she had a relapse and was asked to leave HOHM’s home.  This happened more than once while staying at HOHM’s homes.  She had accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized at Westside Church.  Attended Celebrate Recovery and attended AA meetings.  But she still struggled and then her health began to go down hill.

She has now been sober for over 10 months, and has faced one of the hardest times in her life, due to poverty and health issues.  But something was different this time; she did not choose the same path when things went wrong.  She stayed sober.
She shared with HOHM’s manager this week how God had answered her prayers and her health was getting better.  She also said I am so happy with my extended HOHM family.  I never thought I’d be this happy again!

*****

Mr. Y.
I have served many days of my young life behind some kind of bars, as I was trying to escape the inner pain I had always felt growing up.  So I became a tough guy who could tackle anything. I became a very hard worker, but that wasn't enough to kill the deep pain.  I seemed to always attract or get involved with some kind of trouble and of course when you add the pain killing drugs or alcohol it is a given.  Growing up was very tough for me - a lot of home abuse and not sure if anyone cared about me or if I was worth caring for. 

While in a special program in a Oregon prison a group of Christians came to teach us about the love of God and how to live our lives in a better way.  I found out about House of Hope through one of the ladies and wrote to Darlene about getting into the men's house.  After a few months and working with my counselor on my Life Plan, we made the call to House of Hope and was O.K.'d to come to Bend and live at the men's house.  I was on a special early release program. This program had in place guidelines that if a person didn't follow "All" requirements they would go directly back to prison to serve the rest of their time.  I was grateful for the opportunity to prove I could do this, as always I was a tough guy and could anything, right.  Little did I know what the word" All" met, not one error!!

I did so well at House of Hope, I proved I was worthy, just like I had done so many times before.  I helped keep the house spotless, always doing everything right and following all guidelines and required meetings, etc. But I still was in survivor mode, finally getting some work with my old boss, who by the way had relapsed but I needed work so bad and I had worked well with him before. One of the requirements of my Life Plan was to have employment.  When I was working I was riding high and back in my old familiar survivor mode.  I even got permission to be with my girlfriend on weekends and be a mentor to her teen son, who by the way thought I was the kinda guy he wanted to be like.  I was riding high and had my life just where I wanted it to be.  We were planning on getting a place together and being a real family, none of this being apart stuff.  

But, there were two real glitches - my girlfriends mother, whom she shared a house with, was actively drinking and using drugs.  And my own choice to buy beer to celebrate the hard work I had been doing in my program.   Did I say using drugs, my first error remember my Life plan, another requirement not to associate with anyone breaking the law such as using drugs,etc.  My second error buying beer and drinking, doing it my way again. 

Long story short I forgot to follow the guidelines for my early release.  The mother, while high on drugs, confronted me and than slapped me in the face, I did not respond to her slaps, like I would have in the past.  This made her even more mad so she called the police on me and when I saw them I became that abused boy again and ran.  Now our men in blue are very fast and sooner than later I was behind bars again.  I took full ownership of my mistakes and wrong judgments, and I was back in Prison within twelve hours.  The real sad part of this story is the young teen who was looking for the real man to follow into manhood who loved me unconditionally.  Thank goodness I still have time to make it up to him and her.

I know relapse is a part of recovery and when you're covering a life long way of living it takes time and hard work for change.  Thank goodness I received another opportunity to learn how to live a better life.  I am now in a program that deals with alcohol and other issues I still have, I know I can do this and be successful even thought it may take some time behind bars.  After all I am a tough guy right and a determined survivor. 

Try to remember when reading this story, It was not my idea as a young boy to grow up with all this time behind bars and all this trouble in my life.  I took on the job of survivor at a very early age and really had little knowledge of how to live life correctly.  I am looking forward to living like other people and feel there is still hope for that.