Victor plans on going to school to pursue a degree in drug and alcohol recovery.

He’s forging a new path

At 2 years old, Victor’s parents divorced. His mother raised Victor and his two older brothers by herself, but due to work, often left them with a babysitter. “I didn’t really have a relationship with my mom growing up. It seemed I saw the babysitter more than I did my mom; she was constantly working,” Victor said. “I was grateful I had everything I wanted: food, clothes, shelter. But what was missing was my mom and my dad.

“My brothers used to beat me up. We would always fight and say mean things to each other. We used to say the other was the reason our parents broke up. But me, being the youngest, I took that very seriously. I thought it was me, that maybe I cried too much as a baby or something.”

During junior high, Victor began hanging with gang members. That’s when everything changed for him. “I started rebelling against everything — society, my mom, my dad, my brothers. I was depressed at an early age. Because of my upbringing I felt like there was no God,” Victor said.

At 18, Victor left home due to his drug use. For the next 10 years, Victor would sleep in his car. When Victor tried to reconnect with his family, his mother encouraged him to get help with his methamphetamine addiction. But Victor felt hopeless.

“There were times that I tried to do it on my own,” Victor said. “I really wanted to stop using drugs. I deleted drug dealers’ numbers off my phone, I cut people out of my life, I even stopped paying my phone bill, but I would always go back.

“I didn’t know there was help. I was tired, I was depressed, I was in a very dark place in my head and my heart. I was desperate.”

Victor heard about the Mission while he was in jail. “My cellmate told me, ‘You got to go to the Rescue Mission. It’s the best program in the nation. I know a bunch of people that went there and changed their lives.’ He also said it was faith-based, which is what I wanted. I wanted to get closer to God.

“I knew this is where I belong. This is home. This is where I feel welcome and loved. The people here are genuine. They’re not doing it for attention, they are sincere. This is family for me.

“I’m experiencing a lot of change, a lot of good that wasn’t in my heart or my life before. I didn’t have Jesus in my life, now I do and it’s amazing.”

After graduation, Victor is considering a degree in drug and alcohol recovery to help others that have struggled. He’s excited to reconcile with his family and is focused on making them, and himself, proud.