I do not know about you, but I feel like the weeks and months just keep flying by! I have been delayed in writing because as the colder weather has set in here in the Carson City area, we have been just so busy. We are already busting at the seams in our homes with so many people. As quickly as we move people into our homes, I am asking people to leave. We always take chances on people no matter who they are or where they have come from. When we do this, we often times run into people who are just struggling to stay clean and sober or even pay their rent to us. Each month begins with getting those people out to make room for those who are really wanting a safe, clean home environment and most of all...Help.
Some of our blessings come in awkward ways. Just last night we had one of our previous residents sleep outside on our back porch. The temps were in the low 20's and it had been snowing (I know, I know, maybe a classic sad story?) This morning he about gave our bookkeeper a heart attack as she rounded the corner to the back porch and there he was! He was so frozen(no coat) that she had to help him into the office. She made coffee and called me. When I arrived, we fed him and had him shower in our bathroom upstairs (this is actually a beautiful old house). We have a finished basement too where we store coats, hats, sundry items, clothes, blankets, etc. We gave him all new clothes and a great big new coat.
Before I move on, please let me back up a bit to catch you up with his story. It is not that we did not know who he was because we already were introduced to him several months back when he came to live in one of our homes. But a couple months into his stay because of his addiction issues we had to ask him to leave. It was not a very easy process with this man because when he used, he became super paranoid and caused some unrest with his fellow roommates to say the least. We had our local sheriff's department involved so they could take him to the hospital(twice). When he sobered up and realized what he had done the first time he really wanted a second chance. We decided to give him that chance only to have him fall right back into his habits. Now we were faced with him leaving for good and this is how he ended up on the back porch.
I cannot speak for you, our readers, but I can say that some people just get under our skin (in a good way) and won't let us give up on them. He is one of those people. The most amazing aspect of the morning is that we were able to get him into a six-month long program today (they actually had beds available)!
Some people need a lot longer than 30-60 days to get better. I feel so blessed because we were able to get him moving forward in his recovery by assisting him with a longer program of sobriety. Hope for tomorrow and a future is something we all need!