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Echoes of hope at Link, The Harbor

God is constantly moving at Portland Rescue Mission.

Over the span of 2014, and because of your generous prayers and support for what we do, we had our most successful year on record. We served 331,346 hot meals and provided 83,197 safe nights of shelter. We also had the honor and privilege of seeing many, many changed lives in both our 3-month Link and Connect programs as well as our 12-month New Life Ministry  at The Harbor and Shepherd’s Door. Watch and listen to some of our male program participants talk about how they have found new life by way of the services Portland Rescue Mission offers to those seeking help. (Come back Sunday for some of those same echoes of renewal and hope from the women in our recovery program).

JOHN IN THE PAST – “I pulled a bag out and put it over my head because I was so afraid of my dad. I sat there and wished I would rather suffocate myself then face my dad. … If my mom took the easy way out, why can’t I? I overdosed on a bunch of medications.”

(Watch John’s story now)

JOHN NOW – “With the Portland Rescue Mission’s program, all the pieces were finally given to me, and after 15 years of trying recovery, I finally felt, for the first time, that … this might actually be possible. I’m at a point in my life where I don’t want to die, I’m ready to go forward because of the hope that has been restored.

DOUG IN THE PAST – “I’ve actually known for about 15 years how broken I am. I had been maintaining sobriety after a prison stay for about two and a half years. My son moved too far away for me to be able to see him on a weekly basis … Two months after that, my mother passed, and that was it. I snapped. I was an emotional wreck and I turned back to drugs. I actually felt my mind spinning away, and not caring.”

(Watch Doug’s story now)

DOUG NOW – “After being here for a couple of weeks [at The Harbor], my Growth Leader set me down and said … ‘We care for you. We want you to have something different in your life. … For the first time, I wasn’t just a treatment plan, I saw the grace and mercy and love of Jesus Christ modeled through a human being. … I have something in my life that I haven’t had in years … I have hope for my future.”

MICHAEL IN THE PAST – “I’ve been homeless for five years … Job to job. … I would get to the top and fall back down. It’s rough. When you have to fight for a manhole cover, or a dry spot and don’t know where you’re going to get a hot meal, the day goes on like it is Groundhog Day. … It’s not in your capacity to think about going to work.”

(Watch Michael’s story now)

MICHAEL NOW – “When you have food, and clean clothes, you can go out and find a job. I feel confident … It is like being out on a boat, seeing someone floating in the ocean and throwing them a life vest. That’s how I feel.”

SEAN IN THE PAST – “My parents said you either go to rehab, or we can’t do this  … I left and I chose to use drugs over my family. I used toilet water to cook up my drugs, and it hit me at that point. I looked up at my arms and I was looking at myself and seeing the destruction I was doing to my body and I asked myself: How much lower I was going to get?

(Watch Sean’s story now)

SEAN NOW – “God personally left the flock of 99 to find me. He brought me back because He loved me, I was his son and there was a purpose for me.”

Donate to Portland Rescue Mission to reach more and more men like these in the year ahead. Whether it’s through our long-term 12-month New Life Ministry for men at The Harbor, or 3-month Link program at our Burnside Shelter, God is changing lives all the time. Thanks for being a part of it.

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