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SICK, COLD ALONE

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Richard shivered in the cold Portland rain. Sick with the flu, he walked along the littered sidewalks of Old Town, feverish and...

A Meal and a BedGave Richard Hope

Rescue Portland November 2012

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On the grounds of New York City’s 9/11 memorial stands a battered pear tree. This “Survivor Tree” was uncovered in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Recovery workers were astonished, since they’d long given up hope of finding anything alive at the site.

The “Survivor Tree” was badly burned, covered in ash, with only one living branch. Rather than abandon it, caretakers replanted it and nursed it

back to health. Within a year, the tree sprouted new growth. Over a decade later, the tree stands strong, budding with life.

On a recent trip to New York city, I stood captivated by the miracle of this tree. It’s a powerful symbol of God’s work in the lives of the men and women who come to Portland Rescue Mission for help.

Dedicated staff and volunteers at the Mission work in the rubble of homelessness and addiction. The people we find are devastated, deeply hurting and barely living. We reach out with emergency care – meals, shelter, clothing and other services to sustain hurting, homeless people – hundreds who come to us every day. We offer hope through counseling, job skills and the love of Christ.

Men and women who choose to embrace recovery are replanted, pruned and nourished – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Out of the ashes, on branches once thought dead, buds of life appear. People who felt beyond hope emerge strong and healthy.

Like the Survivor Tree, Richard and Lauren are remarkable survivors, too. Thanks to the support of friends like you, God has created a miracle of new life within them. And with God’s grace, we’ll see many more new-life stories like theirs this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Eric BauerExecutive Director

P.S. – Thanksgiving and Christmas are especially difficult for homeless men, women and children. Your special gift today helps offer them meals, warmth, friendship and encouragement. Thanks.

P.O. Box 3713Portland, OR 97208-3713 503-MISSION (647-7466)

www.PortlandRescueMission.org

Mission NeedsSocks are a constant need

for men and women on the streets.

We also need:

•Newundergarments

•Blankets

•Backpacks

•Deodorant(sprayorsolid)

•Disposablerazors

•Toothbrushes

•Toothpaste

•Travel-sizetoiletries

•Jeans

•LifeRecoveryBibles(NLT)

•Yardequipment:mowers,weed-eaters, leaf blowers, garden soil and pea gravel

•Officefurniture:conferencetable (8‘ x 4‘) with 10 chairs

•Couch/chairset

Please bring donations to the Burnside Shelter at 111 W. Burnside, Portland, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Short-term street parking is usually available at our front door.

300,000 Meals Give Hope!

SICK, COLD ALONE

More than a meal. More than a bed. GIVE HOPE.

The basic daily needs of hungry men, women and children in our community continue to rise. We’re serving 28% more meals to hurting people since the recession began in 2008 – over 300,000 meals this year alone! Each hot, nutritious mealofferscare,hope–andthefirststepstowardanewlife.Andstilljust$1.88per meal. Thanks.

The Survivor Tree

Richardwon’tbealonethisThanksgivingandChristmas. See more at www.PortlandRescueMission.org/Richard

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Men like Richard have meals, shelter and hope thanks to your compassionate support. Thank you.

...completely soaked. “I was constantly walking. I had nowhere to rest,” Richard remembers. “I couldn’t lay down on the ground. I had no medicine. No one to comfort me. I just felt so alone and lost.”

Thanksgiving was just a few days away, but Richard

would spend the holiday homeless. Even though he had

family nearby, he couldn’t bear to have them see him in

his condition. Years of alcohol and drug abuse had deeply

hurt the people he loved. His mother couldn’t trust him. His

sister didn’t want his bad example around her children.

Richard’s addiction isn’t completely surprising. His

father used and dealt heroin. Most of his extended family

were consumed by drugs and alcohol. For Richard, drugs

were a way to fit in with the crowd and hide from his prob-

lems. But his life was a void. “I felt like I was wandering

aimlessly through a desert, trying any drug or relationship

or anything to fill the emptiness.”

For years, Richard managed to hold a job even while

spiraling deeper into addiction. He married, but it fell apart

after just two years. “It was doomed to begin with,” he says,

“because I loved drinking and drugs more than anything –

even my wife.”

SICK, COLD ALONEand

(continued from front cover)

Eventually his addiction took him down. Richard lost

his job and home. He was lost, alone and – more than ever

before – empty.

“I came to the Mission for a meal and a bed,” he says.

Richard didn’t know it yet, but that meal was the first step

toward healing. After a week in our emergency shelter, he

enrolled in our New Life Recovery Program.

Through months of care and counseling, Richard

discovered a relationship with God that changed his entire

outlook on life. “It was the one piece of the puzzle that

made other things clear,” he says.

As God filled the void in Richard’s life, the need for

drugs and alcohol fell away. “Portland Rescue Mission has

given me a place to learn and grow – and a fighting chance

to address the roots of my addiction through Christ.” He has

forgiveness and a freedom he never thought possible.

Richard’s family has seen him change. “When I talk

to my mother, I can definitely tell that she’s proud of me.

Confidence and trust is being rebuilt.”

After graduation, Richard looks forward to finishing

college, maybe to pursue his passion for art and music.

“I love the process of creating something beautiful out of

nothing,” says Richard – just as God has done with him.

Richard is learningvaluable life skills to prepare him for a successfulnew life.

“I began to care about myself and other people. I began to care about being responsible and just began to feel joy – something I

haven’t felt for a long time.”

See how Lauren found hope with the New Life Recovery Program. www.PortlandRescueMission.org/Lauren

Scan with RedLaser app or other QR code reader to watch video.

Lauren felt like she was dying. For weeks, she rarely left

the darkness of a small bedroom she was renting. Numb to the

world around her, she was isolated in sleep, constant TV or

the private world of her computer. “It was the deepest, darkest

depression I’ve ever experienced,” Lauren remembers.

“I was done living my life.”

The dark clouds of depression weren’t new to Lauren.

She’d felt unwanted, abandoned, even despised for most of her

life. After her parents’ divorce when she was young, Lauren

rarely saw her father. Her mother, caught up in an unhealthy

lifestyle, was distant and sometimes left Lauren to fend for

herself. In school, Lauren was bullied by kids and emotionally

abused by one of her teachers.

The effect of so much rejection was devastating. “I

believed that God couldn’t love me,” says Lauren. “I believed

that I had no value, that I was a mistake.”

As an adult, the heaviness continued to plague Lauren. She

worked multiple jobs, but couldn’t seem to make ends meet.

She enrolled in college, but couldn’t stay motivated. “People

around me started moving on with their lives… getting married,

having kids,” she says. “I felt left behind. Why could they

be successful with their lives and I couldn’t?”

To cope with the pain, Lauren shut down. She built

emotional walls of isolation between her and the outside

world. She shut God out, too. Lauren stopped living.

Through the help of her family, Lauren found Shepherd’s

Door, the women and children’s ministry of Portland Rescue

Mission. Desperate for hope and a connection with God,

Lauren enrolled in the New Life Recovery Program.

In her first few weeks at Shepherd’s Door, Lauren felt

herself slowly open up to God’s love. While in prayer one day,

she sensed Him saying, “You are MINE.” It moved her deeply.

For the first time, I understood that God loved me. I went around the whole day telling everybody,

‘Guess what? God loves me!’

The wall between her and God came tumbling down in a

cascade of His embrace.

Other walls came down in Lauren’s life, too. Anger that

once boiled inside her fell away. Meaningful friendships with

other women in the recovery program began to blossom.

Her parents have experienced their own healing and her

relationship with them has grown deeper. “We’re starting new,

because I’m new.”

Other people have noticed Lauren’s transformation. “I’ve

had people from my past come up to me and say, ‘You’ve

changed. You just look brighter. You look happy,’” Lauren says.

Her answer is simple. “This place is saturated with God. You

can’t leave here without being touched by Him.”

Your gift today will help more people like Lauren escape homelessness and devastating addictions. Thanks.

Lauren Stopped Living