For years, William had been the one his uncle could count on — the nephew who stayed to take care of him in Milwaukee when everyone else moved away.

 

William paid what he could toward the rent each month, but it wasn’t enough. And one morning, there was a knock at the door — officers from the sheriff’s department, there to escort them both out. They were being evicted.

 

“I was very hurt and scared at the same time,” William says. “I’d never been in a situation like that. I didn’t know what to do.”

 

He had been carrying a lot. After losing his parents and his sister within just a few years, William and his uncle were left grieving with little support. Those losses took a toll, and he started using drugs to cope with the weight of those years.

 

William knew one place people in this city had often talked about that might be able to help him.

 

“I’ve always known of the Milwaukee Rescue Mission,” he says. “Everybody always spoke of it — and I thought it was a place you could come to for real shelter. And it was.”  But what he found was so much more than just shelter. He found an opportunity for life transformation.

 

Arriving at MRM with nothing but the clothes on his back, not long after, a routine drug test exposed the reality of his addiction. Without hesitation, he joined New Journey, a residential addiction recovery program — six months, no phone, no smoking.

 

What he found there surprised him: counselors who listened, men who held each other accountable, the Bible he picked up one day and couldn’t put down. “I just knew this was the right place for me,” he says. “I’ve been looking for this help for a long time.”

 

 William graduated from New Journey. He’s found a new church and is searching for an apartment — and he’s already encouraging other men who say they can’t do it to hang in there and give the New Journey program a chance!

 

“The guys here, the advocates, are great. They are great and very supportive. I couldn’t ask for nothing better than that.”

 

To friends like you who helped make William’s recovery possible, he has a message: “The help that they give to people is just astonishing — and I’m very thankful for the donors who help keep this place going. It’s beautiful!”