Paul was a talented hockey player and the apple of his father’s eye. But when he was injured and no longer a “star,” his dad lost interest in him. Heartbroken by his father’s rejection, he fell in with the wrong crowd. “I started partying, smoking weed and...
“My mom left home when I was 10 years old,” Glenda shares. “And my father never really cared for me.” So she bounced around from place to place… staying with friends or relatives… never having a place to call home or feeling she was part...
Diane was in her early 20s when she lost three precious loved ones. Her grandfather, brother and fiancé passed away within a year of one another. “I didn’t have the resources whatsoever to cope,” she says. So she did the only thing she knew how. Following...
"The Mission opened their doors to me." Flor and her husband came to the US from Mexico and started their life together. With five kids, they always had their hands full. Then Flor found herself in a situation she never imagined… domestic abuse. “I immediately pressed charges...
The JOY of a Family Christmas A single mom, Cathy was devoted to her little girl. Baking cookies, decorating the tree and singing their favorite carols made the holidays their special time together. When her daughter achieved their shared dream of going to college, she couldn’t...
“I had no purpose in life!” “I had issues I had never taken care of, never addressed—issues that started when I was a kid,” says Mark, a graduate of our Men’s Life Recovery Program. Now in his mid-50s, he believes the abuse he endured as a...
“My kids have all been inspired and changed by the miracle God did in my life,” says Carol Molinari, a graduate of Rockford Rescue Mission’s Women’s Life Recovery Program, who now holds an accounting position at a downtown Chicago hotel. She shares her moving story...
For Sarah, one moment changed everything Sarah had been sober for nearly 5 years. She was a hard-working registered nurse and single mom to a 10-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son. It was a simple moment that led to her relapse. She was picking up a pizza when the...
