Stories of Hope
Angelic’s Story of Hope
I was living on the streets of the west side of Columbus for many years. My addiction took me to places I never thought possible. For years I was in and out of jail, involved in prostitution, raped more times than I can count, beat-up and homeless. When I found the Hope Center though, I found my safe place. I was able to rest, to eat and get clothes. I felt cared for and like a normal human being when I was there. Then on September 3, 2024, after a rough day, I surrendered to God and asked him to take control of my life. Three days later, I went to The Hope Center and Scott, Jamey and Julie were there to help me get into a treatment program called Landmark. I stayed 30 days and was very proud to complete the program. I am now at Lighthouse Sober living for a one-year program. The people at the Hope Center are my angels from heaven. I am actively involved in the Hope Dealer Community and attend all of the recovery meetings and that is how I am able to keep moving forward in my recovery. In the Hope Dealer Community we are more than friends. We are family and we make sure to help each other stay clean.
Angelic K.
Ashley’s Story of Hope
Most of my life I’ve felt like I didn't belong. On any given day you could find me fantasizing about living someone else's life. My struggle with connection to people is what started my addiction, I wanted to drink to fit it. Within a few years I had completely spiraled out of control. I started using drugs and alcohol because they felt like the solution to my problem of feeling out of place in this world. I spent most of my adult life in active addiction, treatment centers, jails and prison, never able to string together more than a couple months of sobriety. My boyfriend introduced me to The Hope Gathering, a recovery meeting offered by The Hope Dealer Community. The people here gave me a gift as soon as I walked in the door, they hugged me, comforted me and cared for me with no judgement. They gave me a place to be free to be myself, broken and all. If you had asked me that day I wouldn't have been able to explain what I felt with this group of people, but today I know that what I felt was love. A month or so later, I walked into what is now my home church and felt the overwhelming presence of God and it was the same feeling that I had the day that I walked into The Hope Gathering. I felt loved, I felt like I belonged. Two weeks later I called The Resource Hope Center and asked for their help in getting to treatment and I’ve been sober ever since. The Hope Dealer Community welcomed me with open arms. Every single time I step into the The Hope Center or connect with someone from the Hope Dealer Community my day is brighter and filled with hope. This community is my family, the connection I've been missing all my life. Today I have a relationship with God, my family and I've reconnected with my 3 kids. I get to help be a light for others, I get to show people that no matter what you have been through that they are loved and that they belong here. I get to share that the world is a better place with you in it. I thank God every day for His love, grace and mercy and for lighting the path that led me to this community and MY people.
Ashley A.
Mike’s Story of Hope
I discovered drugs and alcohol at a very young age. At this time I was too young to realize I had mental health issues too. All I knew was drugs and alcohol made me feel better. At least that's what I thought then. It took me 36 years in the streets to realize that the drugs and alcohol didn't make me feel better but rather made me not feel at all. I’ve been in and out of jail and prison most of my adult life. I’d been going to The Hope Center off-and-on for a few years. They fed me, clothed me and gave me necessary items to survive in the streets, with no judgment. During the lowest times of my life they would tell me they loved me every time i left and this was when I felt I didn't deserve to be loved. Finally, on April 10, 2024, I decided enough was enough and went to the Hope Center to seek help. Within 30 minutes of asking for help I was in an uber on my way to treatment and to start a new life. If it wasn’t for the Hope Center staff, I’d have no idea where I’d be. This place saved my life. I am still a work in progress but I’m better today than I was yesterday. I attend all the recovery meetings at the Hope Center and I feel I am a part of something for the first time in my life.
Mike S.
Cierra’s Story of Hope
When I was broken, afraid, defeated and hungry the only safe place I knew I could go to was The Hope Resource Center to see Samantha. I knew they understood my struggles - especially her. I am a mother, a daughter, a friend and the streets stripped all of that away from me. The only time I felt like a human and somebody that was loved, was when I would show up at the Hope Center and cry in Sam’s arms. I got arrested January 30th 2024 and surrendered completely and just asked God to lead my way. I haven’t stopped since I got into treatment where I am now a resident manager! I got an amazing sponsor who had what I wanted in life and she guided me through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I rebuilt relationships in my life I thought were broken for good. I continue to pray and speak to God through all the good and the bad. I speak to the staff at The Hope Center on a regular basis and attend the faith-based Hope Gathering recovery meeting any time I am not doing the mommy thing. I love my life today! There is so much to work on still but with God and the people who support me I can do anything!
Cierra B.
Christie’s Story of Hope
My name is Christie. I was on drugs, in one form or another, most of the 37 years of my life. I went from being what i believed to be a "functioning" alcoholic and addict to a homeless prostitute running the streets of Steubenville, Ohio doing heroin then crack to running the streets of the westside of Columbus. I have been beat, robbed, raped, held hostage, used and discarded. I had lost my dignity, self-respect, and all sense of well-being. I even lost my son in the grips of the strongest disease I have ever known. Addiction tore me down in every way - that is until l this wonderful loving place that loved me until i could become brave enough to love myself. A HUGE THANK YOU to THE HOPE RESOURCE CENTER. They took me in and showed me love and compassion and taught me to give myself a break. They gave me HOPE that i could overcome the obstacles in life. Without these people in my life I would probably be dead. I have a purpose now. My clean date is April 3, 2024. That is the day i was born again. I send love and prayers to all addicts. We can do it together - never alone, never again.
Christie O.
Valarie’s Story of Hope
My addiction started early in my teenage years. Coming from a broken home, I longed to feel like I fit in and belonged. Drugs and alcohol were my solution and I was able to manage my drug use for awhile. That only prolonged my suffering though, as I refused to admit I even had a problem. I lost custody of my children and quickly found myself on the streets of Columbus. I tried several times to get clean for my kids. I didn’t yet feel that I was deserving of a better life, but I knew they were. My attempts failed repeatedly and I reached a deeper bottom more quickly with every relapse. The lifestyle was no longer glamorous for me and I had never felt more alone in my life. My world was dark and I was afraid. I stumbled upon The Hope Center one day sometime in early 2022. They offered me food when I wasn’t sure where my next meal would come from. I met Scott and Amanda during that time. Although I was full of fear, every time I saw them they would smile, remember my name and let me know that when I was ready, they would be there to help me. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I mattered and someone saw me for the human being that I am. Not what I could do for them or how much money I could bring them. Eventually my addiction brought me to my knees yet again, and I surrendered. I made it to Landmark Recovery in Willard, OH. My journey to recovery has been far from easy, but the most rewarding thing I have ever experienced in my life. Today I have a God, I am a present mother to my children and have a beautiful relationship with them. I’m an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous and I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with others who are in situations similar to my own past experiences. I can be a living testament to them that they Do matter, and there IS a better way to live. Today we share 16 months of sobriety and I am beyond grateful for The Hope Center and those who believed in me before I believed in myself. Recovery is possible!
Valarie H.
Brian’s Story of Hope
My name is Brian and I am an ex-lover of fermented beverages. My story is a little different than most. After living in Cleveland and struggling with alcoholism, homelessness and scrapes with the boys in blue, I decided to move to Columbus for a fresh start. After coming to Columbus my drinking quickly became a problem again. Then one day, after drinking way too many of my favorite beverages, I was riding my bike and out of nowhere a sidewalk sign jumped out in front of me and I crashed into the sign. After slowly getting up, I read the sign that said there was an AA Meeting at 6pm in the building next to the sign. Since it was just after 6pm, I opened the door, stumbled in, and announced to the group sitting in a circle that "I think I am supposed to be here". That was almost two-years ago and I have been sober ever since. The AA meeting, that was started by the people at The Hope Center, was the beginning of my new life. I then began attending the faith-based recovery meeting, also at the Hope Center, called the Hope Gathering. I felt for the first time ever that i belonged. At the Hope Gathering, I renewed my faith in Jesus and was baptized. As a teenager I was told by our preacher that God had a calling on my life. I am now fulfilling that calling as I have become part of the leadership team and speak regularly at the Hope Gathering.
Brian L.
Samantha’s Story of Hope
I was on the streets of the Hilltop for 10+ years. My addiction took me straight to the depths of HELL. Homelessness, prostitution, human trafficking, beat up and raped too many times to count. I literally felt like I had sold my soul to the devil and didn’t think I would ever return. I woke up one day and was so sick physically and mentally and even though I didn’t believe in God at the time, I was so desperate that I cried “Please God, help me, just take me out”. At that point I didn’t even care if that meant I had to die because I wanted out! God answered me though and told me ‘Your Story Isn’t Over’. Not even a week later on April 3, 2018 I was arrested on my outstanding warrants in Franklin County and went to jail. I know that was God. I knew I had a decision to make to either LIVE or DIE and I wanted to LIVE. I went to treatment and then transitional living for a year and I graduated from Judge Jodi Thomas’ HART Court. I now have 5 years and 7 months clean and sober. I now work at The Hope Resource Center as a Peer Support Specialists and the people here save my life a little more each day. It’s such an amazing feeling to be able to help a lot of the same people I used to get high with and to show them with God all things are possible.
Samantha R.
Amanda & Jayme’s Story of Hope
The Hope Center did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We would not have had a hot meal, clean clothes and so much more. Not once did they treat us like addicts. They treated us like normal people. There were days we just felt like giving up but the support, kindness, love and friendship was enough to help us get through the hardest times. We were homeless for 2 years. We were living in the garage of an abandoned house and one night someone burned the garage to the ground. We made it out with only the clothes on our back. We lost everything. We were ready for a change. We walked into the Hope Center the next day and said Help Us! That was over 4 months ago. We have been clean and sober ever since. We are working very hard on our recovery in a sober living program. We still come to the Hope Center every Monday night for the AA Meeting, every Wednesday for the Hope Gathering and every Friday for Pizza with Hope. We have found our support community and are now telling other addicts that there is a way out. God saved us the night the garage burned down. We needed Him then and we need Him everyday to keep us on the right track!
Jayme & Amanda
Rob’s Story of Hope
“Around this time last year I was homeless, hopeless, and addicted.
I am blessed that a place like the Hope Resource Center existed. Through my connection with Hope I met Scott. His compassion, kindness and story of growth and strength motivated me to want a better life as well. Now I am clean and sober. I own a construction company and am doing well. If not for meeting Linda, Scott, Zach and everyone else I'd either be dead or back in jail by now. That being said, I'd like to make sure that Hope is able to continue to be a light in some people's darkest days for years to come. If you could provide me the information needed to make a donation by either electronically or by check I will do so.”
Robert M.