CRM – 90 Days of Summer

Each week during the “90 Days of Summer,” we’ll highlight a different opportunity for you to get involved to help the homeless. This week, we’re collecting cleaning supplies. You can drop them off any time at our main location.

We’d also like to thank Ronald Blue & Co for volunteering at the mission!

Many people think of the homeless in the cold winter months.  Did you know that Charlotte Rescue Mission’s beds stay full year round?  Although donations drop off in the summer months, we continue to provide the same services to broken men and women suffering from drug or alcohol addiction.

During our “90 Days of Summer” campaign, we will tweet every day for 90 days to raise awareness for the issues facing the homeless this summer and throughout the year in Charlotte.   You can get involved by following us on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, and telling your friends about Charlotte Rescue Mission.   Thank you for helping us make a difference this summer!

I never had a problem with drinking. That’s what I remember. I liked to hang out with my friends on the weekends, have a few drinks, and just enjoy life. But it just took one day, one experiment, to change my life.

I was hanging out with some friends; and they brought out a crack pipe. I tried it and I just never stopped. Within a month, I was hooked on crack. I lost my job, because I was missing days to stay at home and smoke. I lost my apartment because I spent any money I could get on drugs instead of necessities. I never looked at myself and my life at the time: I just moved from one placed to another trying to find a way to get high.

I was living in a tent in the woods, and at the time it didn’t occur to me that something had gone terribly wrong. Until I got word that my dad was in the hospital. I wanted to see him. I hadn’t seen him or my family for months. When I got to the hospital, I ran into my sister, and she said to me, “Where have you been?” And that’s when I felt the weight of my life. I said to my sister, “Take me right now to get help. I need help.”

I ended up at Rebound, finished the recovery program, and have moved on with my life. I am now helping people who are burdened with the weight of their addictions. Just as I once was. When these people come to me and say, “I need help,” I can honestly answer, “I understand.” I can also honestly tell them, “You can find a way out.”

I’m Tara and I’m an alcoholic and an addict. I have been clean and sober for two years thanks to Dove’s Nest. I entered this program totally broken and dead on the inside. I had lost everything: kids, family, friends, marriage, home, cars, etc. You name it and I lost it due to my severe drug addiction.

I entered the doors of “The Nest” on November 9, 2007; I was completely dead inside, and there I found not only a warm meal and a roof over my head but a sense of safety that I hadn’t known in a long time. There were wonderful counselors there that gave me hope and showed me how to live a new way of life, clean and sober. I found the Tara that God had intended me to be all along.

I have since gotten my children back and am a great mother. I have an awesome family that I am engaged in. I am going back to school and making good grades to work with other alcholics and addicts. I attend AA meetings several times weekly and am very active in my sobriety. I NEVER could have imagined that my life would be the way it is today; I NEVER thought I could get sober and remain sober.

I am SO truely grateful to Dove’s Nest and ALL of its staff; that was a crucial part of the beginning of my new life. Thank you Dove’s Nest; you will ALWAYS be in my thoughts and prayers…I love you for all you have done for me and all the women’s lives you have changed!!!