Doug
You helped this father walk a new path.
In January 2009, Doug was arrested for robbery. Today, he says it’s the best thing that ever happened to him, because it started him on the path to a new life.
“I was stealing because I had a real bad drug problem,” he explains. “I used prescription drugs. I snorted heroin a couple times, but I’d never shot up. But if I hadn’t been arrested, I would have shot up that day. That’s God’s timing.”
After his arrest, Doug asked for help. Following three months in county jail, he went to the Correctional Treatment Facility for another three. Then he came to Cherry Street.
“To get into CTF’s outpatient program, I had to have a place to stay,” Doug recalls. “I figured I would stay with family, but that didn’t happen. My wife and family didn’t want anything to do with me, because before, I was always up to no good, asking for money for drugs. So I came to Cherry Street. I didn’t want to; I really fought it.”
Angry at first with Cherry Street’s routines and schedules, Doug now recognizes that the structure he hated had a positive impact on his life. Cherry Street also reinforced his newfound faith in God, the result of reading the Bible in jail.
“The whole staff at Cherry Street was so nice to me,” he marvels. “They really wanted to help.”
When Doug left Cherry Street last September, his family recognized that he’d changed. His mother let him live with her, and, a few months later, he reunited with his wife, Amanda. Today Doug and Amanda are very involved in Vision Ministries in South Toledo. They’re also examining how they’re raising their seven children, from changing the music they play to establishing a rule that all their kids’ friends who sleep over on Saturday have to go to church with the family Sunday morning.
“We bring so many kids to church that our nickname is ‘The Israelites,’” chuckles Doug before turning serious once again.
“Without Cherry Street, I’d probably have gone back and done drugs again, even though I didn’t want to. I want to thank your donors and ask them to give more, because there are a whole lot more people out there who need their help.”
