I was only 13 when I started using drugs. When I turned 18, I started selling them and lived very comfortably.

I was a pretty self–centered person!

After peddling my wares for about seven years, I began using heroin and ended up in a homeless shelter in Boston. I was on methadone for the next eight years. I had been arrested about 20 times and [served time in prison] before I was referred to The Salvation Army by the court system.

On occasions, I would phone my 8–year–old son, A.J., who called me by my first name.

Shortly after I arrived at The Salvation Army, I wanted to leave. I asked my probation officer for a transfer. But after about two weeks in the program, I changed my mind because I realized that this was not where I wanted to be but where I needed to be. I had begun to feel that the people at The Salvation Army genuinely cared for me.

I graduated from the Umoja Recovery Program at the Cambridge, Mass., Corps. I then secured employment at BJ’s; I was later promoted to management.

In 2003, I received the “Drug Court Graduate of the Year” award and began working at The Salvation Army because I really wanted to make a difference in others’ lives.

In 2005, I was promoted to director of the Umoja program, obtained custody of my son, and received a full scholarship to Cambridge College, which I now attend. My son and I share an apartment and attend the Cambridge Corps, where A.J. is a junior soldier.

I spend my days working with men who need help putting their lives together. I teach life skills; give them guidance and care; and most of all, I help them to accept the love of Christ. When I’m not working, attending school, or playing sports with the guys, I enjoy time with my family.

Life’s a funny thing. It takes you places you never thought you’d go. I’m no longer on methadone. I have a future, and my son now calls me “Daddy.” Life has never been the same since I opened my heart to Christ.