The SOUND of HOPE
“With Bread of Life Mission, I’ve seen what I can accomplish.”
Leonard grew up in the projects, in a big family with a single mom. “We didn’t have everything we wanted, but my mom did everything she could.”
As an adult, Leonard followed his mother’s example of hard work. “I was a commercial fisherman for 21 years,” he shares. While he loved his career, long stints at sea pulled him away from the people he loved most... including his ailing mother.
“My mom asked me not to go out on one trip, because she was in the hospital.” When he returned to shore, he learned that his mother had passed away that morning.
Leonard had felt responsible to help his mom, but that meant he wasn’t there for her in her last days. “I worked to pay for her medicine and care.” The sadness he felt was overwhelming. Leonard wasn’t married and his kids had all grown up, so he didn’t have a support system in place to work through these challenging experiences.
Feeling heartbroken and alone, Leonard entered retirement and struggled to find direction in life. He drifted from shelter to shelter, until a friend brought him to the Mission.
The day he walked into Bread of Life Mission, everything changed for Leonard.
When I walked through these doors, I knew I was going to be helped,” Leonard says.
“Everything that I needed done has happened here.” The Mission helped Leonard get his driver’s license and Social Security benefits, and assisted with scheduling doctor’s appointments.
“Being here at Bread of Life Mission has helped me make better decisions.”
Leonard’s spiritual life is renewed now – he prays and reads his Bible regularly. “They’ve changed my life with God,” Leonard says. The classes he’s gone through in the LifePath Program have given him the tools he needs to succeed.
This holiday season, Leonard is experiencing the gifts of peace and hope for a brighter future. Thank you for helping to make his new beginning possible! “Before I came to Bread of Life Mission, I was lost. Since coming here, I have become part of the family.”
To read the rest of this issue of The Sound of Hope Newsletter click here.