“Back to Being Me”
I started drinking at the age of 14. After 2 failed marriages, I was a raging alcoholic and I had experimented with powdered cocaine and acid. As my addictions progressed, crack cocaine took a hold of my life and I was a highly functioning addict, on and off, for 30 years.
With my addictions, I had to work for money. This led me to do a lot of things that I did not like to do, but I liked managing the escort service. This gave me the money to pay for my groceries, housing, and my addictions. My family knew that I was an addict, but they didn’t want to admit it. My mother worked for a rehabilitation center and had me admitted, but since I didn’t do it on my own, it didn’t work for me. I felt like I was okay because I was so addicted at that time that I thought I was functioning properly.
My profession led to me being in and out of jail, which is where I met a counselor from CRM. She would visit the jail to teach drug rehabilitation classes and she always told me “Pandora, if you ever want to turn straight, come to the City Rescue Mission.” After 30 years of addiction, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I was too old to live that life, so I called her and came to CRM five years ago. After graduating LifeBuilders, I moved into the Homes of Hope on the McDuff Campus and I’ve been here ever since. If not for CRM, I would be dead. Coming to the Mission has changed the way that I see myself. I am back to being me. I don’t look in the mirror and see an addict anymore. The Mission has given me the tools to stay clean because I had tried and I couldn’t do it on my own.
I thank City Rescue Mission for giving me my life back. Everyone here is so wonderful and they never ask for
anything in return. That’s the beauty of the City Rescue Mission.
