Donny had battled chemical addiction off and on for years — but his last 10-year run just about killed him. He arrived at Helping Up Mission for our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program in September 2011.
Once here, he just settled in and made a conscious effort to work on his recovery. Donny benefited from his mental health counseling and started facing the issues that caused him to keep drinking.
Then, at age 50, Donny began to believe he could still get his high school diploma and started working on it with our staff and tutors every day.
Also, in his addiction, Donny hadn’t taken good care of his teeth and he got the opportunity to change that through our partnership with the University of Maryland Dental School.
This all sounds good, but it wasn’t easy. Working through his personal issues was painful — but important.
Studying English and math again after 33 years wasn’t fun, either. And before he could get what he wanted…Donny had to have every tooth pulled that he hadn’t already lost!
On top of all this, while here, Donny lost both of his parents.
But a new Donnie was emerging. After 4 years at HUM, last week Donnie moved into his own place in the city.
He left here as a graduate of our Program with 4 years and 2 months of recovery time, his high school diploma, a completely new mouthful of teeth and a great feeling about himself — under God.
We expect to see Donny come back around regularly. It will be good for him and good for the new guys showing up here. Spiritual recovery really does work…
…One Day at a Time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director