I’m 48 years old. I’m a mother of eight, and have seven grandchildren. Basically I did a lot of running in my life. I was always interested in the fast life. I ran the streets and I did a lot of clubbing. I got messed up in drugs; I guess I was curious. I didn’t go to school, but I was always curious. When I got involved in substance use, mainly it was crack. I smoked and I also sold it. At that time my family had custody of my children.
I was just hard-headed and stubborn. I didn’t think I had a problem with anything. My brother was a counselor and he used to take me over and over again to detox, but I went for all the wrong reasons. I went for everybody else and not for me. In the back of my head I knew once I came back out of detox I’d be going straight home to start drinking or doing whatever I was doing. And that’s what I did. It got so that I had to go to different detox places because I got tired of them seeing my face. I always knew what I had to do while I was there. I learned a lot about recovery, but still didn’t think I had a problem.
I kept getting arrested selling drugs. I lost my apartment plenty of times, but I had keys to my family’s apartment. Believe it or not, I didn’t know that I was really homeless because I didn’t have my own apartment. But you couldn’t tell me I was homeless. It took me a while to really sit back and get humble, to accept all this and get honest with myself but I did. I surrendered. I entered a 6-month residential program. And I started to like cooking there.
When I graduated, I was referred to Project Renewal’s Culinary Arts Training Program. This was a great experience. My classmates and I studied together, we quizzed each other before graduation; we worked hard. I loved my classmates and Chef Anthony and Edna and Cheryl and the counselors. We worked as a team. There are a lot of people in recovery here which keeps me aware of where I am and how I could be back out there in a heartbeat. Ron Johnson and Barbara Hughes were great. I listened to everything they taught me. They taught me about interviewing and about how to get a job. They set me up with interviews and everything. And now I work at Project Renewal’s Comfort Foods. My family laughs at me because before I couldn’t boil a pot of water! Today my sister is still shocked that I have a food-handling license.
Today, I’m just grateful. I just celebrated three years of sobriety. My kids are in my life. I’m living with my fiancée. I am truly grateful to Project Renewal for giving me these skills and for hiring me.
The people in here are wonderful. I’m happy because they just had another graduation in the culinary class-I remember when I was a student – and when the students came upstairs, I treated them just as I was treated when I came up those stairs. This February, I will have been here for two years, working at the same place. It’s great. And that’s all I have to say. I’m just living life to the best of my ability. |
