After earning a master’s degree in English literature, Dan joined the Peace Corps and moved to Uzbekistan, where every social gathering and celebration included vodka. After his service was up, Dan moved back to California, got a job, and decided to be “grown-up” and live by himself. Isolation, loneliness, and depression led him to drink even more until his addiction was out of control. Dan’s brother talked him into rehab, and he got sober. It lasted a year.

“I was doing everything that was asked of me in sobriety to the best of my ability, but for some reason, I couldn’t stay sober. I would drink again, and that would lead to drugs.” Dan went through the cycle of getting sober and relapsing five times until he ended up homeless, sleeping on his elderly parents’ couch. His last option was to come to the Rescue Mission, where we were able to make space for him in our 12-Month Residential Recovery Program. Here he cried out to God and bravely faced his pain and the consequences of his choices. “It changed the whole dynamic of my recovery,” he says.

As of today, Dan has been sober for five and a half years. He has a relationship with Jesus, is honest about his faults, and has the tools he needs to stay sober for the rest of his life. He currently is the manager of our men’s sober living house, Cornerstone.

Dan expressed his gratitude to donors by sharing, “Thank God for you. You are the lifeblood of this whole place, and you are the reason we’re able to do this work. And you’re the reason we’re able to do it in such a unique way, and not have to suffer from being regulated by some outside source, but rather be guided by the spiritual principles under which we all operate.”