Rescue, Redemption, and a Fresh Start

He grew up in Michigan with a strict Southern Baptist dad and a more lenient mom. After leaving home and losing his dad, Duane says “I just ran wild for like a very long time, coast to coast… doing basically stupid stuff getting in trouble.” He talks about “a lot of dope,” “a couple of busted marriages,” and years he can barely remember. “I was always high.”

The deepest regret is his daughter. When his ex‑wife called at 5:30 a.m. in labor, he didn’t sober up—“I did three shots of Jack before I went to the hospital.” His addiction and choices shattered his family, “I made mistakes, and I’ve paid for them enormously. But that’s not who I am now. That’s gone.”

After years of rehabs, dope houses, and “running the streets,” Duane finally hit a point where he’d had enough. “I just had enough. I couldn’t run the streets no more. I’m not a young man.” He landed in a medical respite, and there a friend told him about Gospel Rescue Mission.

GRM became the doorway God used to pull him out of the life that was killing him. He started working in the kitchen and joined the culinary class. What he found at GRM was grace, “God knows I make mistakes—but they didn’t hold it against me, didn’t judge me at all.”

He’s convinced: “I’d probably be dead right now if it wasn’t for GRM.”

GRM has also become the closest thing he has to family. “I don’t trust people a lot,” but here, that’s slowly changing. “I trust the people here, because they’re looking out for my well‑being… they don’t just let me flounder.”

As he nears the end of his internship in the Opportunity Coffee & Cafe, he’s doing things the old Duane never would have: finishing what he started, planning ahead, saving money.

Duane’s story teaches us that there comes a point when you just can’t live the same destructive way anymore, and that with one step at a time, you can decide who you want to be today.