I am a Service Coordinator at the Rescue Mission and a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I graduated from the Addiction Studies class held at Merced College with honors, have served countless volunteer hours, and have now been a drug and alcohol counselor for nine years.
My first counseling job was at Lifestyle Management which holds two-hour classes for first, second, and third drunk driving offenders. I can honestly say that this was a very rewarding position, I am still being stopped by many of those I counseled who thank me for my guidance, help, and for sharing my testimony with them. I am overjoyed to say that many of those I served are still clean. My second counseling job was at Aegis, a methadone clinic. I was not happy there.
In 2021 two employees from the Rescue Mission told me to go see David Carr, and I did. I was hired as a Service Coordinator and discovered that my thirty-one years of being in and out of prison, nine drunk driving, as well as my 12 years of clean and sober time was an asset. Because these men that I case manage can see fake and phony people, my dark and ugly past has become something I am able to use to help and guide people in their recovery and life skills. I currently case manage 40 men and have 8 Residential Assistants who assist me when I am not present.
In the everyday challenges of life, I am a normal, recovering addict and alcoholic who, upon occasion, will still find myself struggling with things. On those days, I will go to one of my houses and just sit with my fellas. They have no idea that just being around the men from 3 days sober to 3 years sober is helping me just as much as my being in their life and being able to be a positive influence in their life is helping them. The feelings that I get serving as a Service Coordinator at the Rescue Mission are very rewarding. I feel privileged and honored to see clients get their 24-hour-and-up chips. Seeing a man hold his children after years of seperation and move into a place that he can now call his own is priceless.
In our profession, we see many who are not truly ready, and they leave the program. All we can do is hope and pray that good seeds have been planted and that they know that when they are ready, we are here. But then there are those who are successfully working the program. One such success story I’d like to share is about a client of mine who was hurting. He believed the garbage he had been told as a child and felt he was stupid and hopeless. Together we tackled and worked through his struggles, which included some mental illness. I watched him make healthy choices knowing that his past life was not what he wanted. This man, who insisted on becoming a good father, would walk miles to be with his children every morning before he had to be at work. I will never forget the day he went to a class and earned his first certificate. Reality set in that he was far from the horrible things he was led to believe. This man holds a special spot in my heart as I watched him grow into the man he is becoming. He now shares the same job title as I do as Service Coordinator, I am so proud of him and respect him greatly.
Being a Service Coordinator is not a job to me. It has become a lifestyle that involves the lives of men. I am honored to be a part of the Merced Rescue Mission and the power of God that lives within us at the Mission. I feel every person employed at the Mission is a part of my family. Together we all have different strengths, and with that and God we are a great team of people.
