Souls Of Sojourners

Souls

of

Sojourners’

Special thanks to Ginger Rankin and Sojourners’ Alliance, this facebook series will be published in each issue of Home&Harvest.

Photo Credit: Cydnie Gray

“I was alone and trying to get sober with no money, in a desolate trailer park that was being shut down due to lack of clean water, the power would be off in a few days and I would be evicted and homeless...”

In the Souls of Sojourners’ articles we have learned about the need for community and connection in a successful journey to recovery from addiction. Alienation invites hopelessness. We need each other. Always in Souls we have focused on the victims of addiction. We make sure that though they remain in anonymity, their stories enlighten us and their courage gives us all hope to not only carry on but to work for more understanding and empathy in our own lives. We are truly in this together. I was reminded of this as I shared a conversation with a Sojourners’ participant in Project Warmth which is financial assistance provided by Sojourners that includes counseling, and other services to prevent families and individuals from being evicted, losing their homes, or becoming homeless. She tells me that as a young person surrounded by “functional” addiction it became easy to fall into drugs especially when she encountered the world on her own. “I did all the wrong things. No job. Using and selling. Friends who only wanted me for what I could provide for them. Living in Syringa Trailer Court, I ultimately lost my home and almost my life. When someone told me Sojourners was helping the displaced folks at Syringa I called Cliff here in the office. I can’t tell you how everything changed after that. It just did. I accepted the offer of an apartment with Project Warmth. Having a place to sleep, a place that I could call my own, was the key. Now I am almost through Mental Health Court. I’m sober seventeen months and I have my incredible kids back.” Her enthusiasm is contagious! Do you have a plan in place in case things become overwhelming again? “I’ve done everything I can to prevent that. I have a network now. I have plans for my future, I actually HAVE a future! Since you do have a nursing degree, have you thought of... “Not right now. That’s part of my thinking - too close to drugs and they would be too accessible. I don’t need that kind of job right now. I have other ideas.” She is already a certified volunteer Peer Recovery Coach and now has decided to study to become a Substance Abuse Counselor. Soon she will not only be licensed to help others in our community through her academic studies but she also will bring her “expertise by experience” which always instills a mutual trust. “I’ve been there. Let me help.” And here’s my point. When we are able to climb up and out of tragedy and turn around and give a hand up to those who need us, everybody wins. Everybody!