“I was drinking, using crystal meth and sleeping on the streets. That was my rock bottom. But somehow, I’m still here. I believe God has a purpose for me.”

Andy grew up surrounded by hardship. Raised on Milwaukee’s south side by a single mother, he never knew his father and endured years of abuse at home. “My mom always provided for me — food, shelter — but there was no peace,” Andy recalls. “I was bullied at school, and when I came home, I got more of the same.”

At 15, Andy ran away. The streets were harsh, but felt safer than the home he left behind. Before long, drugs and alcohol became his escape. “It started with peer pressure, but quickly became my way of coping,” Andy admits. For years, addiction controlled his life, driving him into homelessness and despair.

“I’ve tried rehab over 20 times,” Andy says. “I always said, ‘This time will be different.’ It never was.” Things reached a breaking point last winter when Andy was hospitalized with a head injury so severe, he couldn’t remember how he got hurt. All he knows is that he was found unconscious and on the verge of hypothermia, bleeding from his head and neck. “I shouldn’t have survived, but I did. I knew then that God wasn’t done with me yet.”

Andy came to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission and joined our recovery program. “I was tired of running,” he says. “I knew I needed help.” Here, Andy found more than food and shelter — he found space to reflect and refocus.

Through counseling, daily Bible study and prayer, Andy reconnected with the faith he’d held onto since childhood. “I’ve learned that God is trustworthy. His love doesn’t depend on how many times I’ve failed,” Andy says. “That love is changing me from the inside out.”

Today, Andy is rebuilding his life. He’s sober, reconciling with his daughter and dreams of helping others trapped in addiction and homelessness. “I know what it’s like to feel hopeless,” Andy says. “But God’s bigger than that. He’s given me hope, and I want to share that with others.”

Andy’s story isn’t finished. He’s writing a new chapter — one filled with grace, purpose and the transformative power of God’s love. “If you let Him, God can take your broken pieces and make something beautiful.”

What God did for Andy was made possible through the support of friends like you… and there are many others like him who need your kindness. Thank you for caring!