A Glimmer of Hope

Alcohol and drugs had always lingered around in her childhood. When she was eleven years old, an older boy from a friend’s family gave her a beer and a kiss.

“I was in love with alcohol at that point because it made me feel like a woman,” she recalls.

What began as an early introduction quickly became a pattern. By twelve, she was drinking more regularly. By thirteen, she was smoking marijuana.

After graduating from high school, Leslie joined the Army. While serving, she endured significant sexual harassment, adding to the pain she had already carried for years.

At twenty, Leslie gave birth to a daughter she loved deeply but did not feel prepared to raise. Her mother ultimately adopted her daughter.

As the years passed, her struggles with addiction grew stronger. She stopped paying rent, lost her keys and purse, and was eventually evicted from her apartment. Over time, the consequences of addiction affected nearly every part of her life.

Eventually, Leslie became sober long enough to recognize just how far her life had unraveled.

“I stopped drinking, doing drugs, and hanging out with people who were doing that stuff,” she says.

But even with her sobriety, she was still homeless.

People repeatedly told her about Gospel Rescue Mission, and eventually she decided to give it a chance. At GRM, Leslie is not only discovering critical resources—she is discovering herself.

Through classes and support programs, she is learning practical tools for rebuilding her life: how to save money, where to find housing opportunities without application fees, and which employers are willing to work with people who have past evictions or criminal records. Those lessons are helping her move forward one step at a time and giving her practical tools she can use as she works toward greater stability and independence.

When asked what she would tell someone battling homelessness and addiction, Leslie doesn’t sugarcoat the reality.

“They’re not going to be ready until they’re ready. And sometimes it takes death, because nothing else is working.”

At the same time, she believes that lasting change begins with a personal decision.

“It starts with you” and with “believing in something other than yourself.”

For Leslie, that something has always been God.