The ARC saved my life

RECOVERY | TESTIMONY

Growing up in rural Chambersburg, Pa., Roger Kauffman said drinking was ingrained in the culture. He remembers going out with his older brothers and friends to party and it just seemed the thing to do.

“It just got out of hand when I was 19 or 20,” he said. “But I just kept at it.”

From 2004 to 2011, Roger was drinking heavily, 24 hours a day.

“I didn’t even drink water or coffee or soda or anything,” he says. “It was just mainly beer. That was all I drank.

“I woke up one morning and hated the way I smelled. I stunk, literally. I wanted to live. I got down on my knees and prayed to God to end it or get me help.”

That winter, Roger was homeless and living in his truck. He would occasionally go to The Salvation Army for lunch. When his truck broke down, Roger went to a warming shelter and was told about the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation (ARC) program.

“I was a full–blown alcoholic,” he said. “I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was to the point I knew if I didn’t do something, I was going to end up dead.”

In 2011, Roger said Major Duane E. Harris talked him into going to the ARC in Harrisburg, Pa.

“My attitude when I first went down there was, I’m not going to leave here some Bible thumper. I told them straight up, I’m not coming here to get religion. I’m here to get help. I want to get sober. I’m a full–blown alcoholic and I’ll do the program, but don’t expect me to leave here with my credentials to be a pastor or anything like that.”

Roger would soon learn that the key to his recovery was found in the pages of that Bible he scorned.

“It saved my life,” he says. “That’s what I tell people. You’ll come closer to God by going through this program. It’s a miracle I’m even here. If it wasn’t for The Salvation Army, I wouldn’t be here today.

Illustration by Dave Hulteen Jr.

“If you’re sincere, going into the program, and you stick it out for six and a half months that they ask you to, you’ll be sincere with God and with yourself. I’m still an alcoholic. I’m just an alcoholic who doesn’t drink. It’s by the grace of God I’m here and that’s who saved me.”

Today, 61–year–old Roger formerly handled maintenance for The Salvation Army corps and family store back in his hometown of Chambersburg, but he now works in a warehouse. He and his wife, Laura, who is also an ARC graduate, attend church.

“We stay sober through church and the people we associate with now,” he said.

Roger, who relapsed briefly during the holidays last year but believes he has turned the corner, is not shy about sharing his story.

“I’m not afraid to walk up to somebody who smells like a brewery or is strung out and talk to them about their addiction,” he says. “I’ve been there and done that. It breaks my heart to realize that was me. It hurts sometimes to admit that, but now I know there’s a better way.

“The ARC pretty much saved my life. I talk to a lot of people and if they have an alcohol problem, I tell them if they’re interested in getting sober and getting straight, get into an ARC.”

What makes the ARC program so successful?

“I think the ARC is awesome and one of the better programs out there. To me, there’s no other program that’s going to work unless you do six months or more. You’re not going to get clean and sober in 30 days. Do I have the urge to drink anymore? No. Because I think about what I went through and how I felt and what I lost, which was all material things and myself somewhere along the way. The ARC in Harrisburg helped me find God and find myself. I know what I want in life now and the ARC helped me figure that out. I want peace for one thing, but I want the friends I have now and not the friends I thought I had. It made me realize I need these kinds of people in my life.”

By ROBERT MITCHELL