When I first got here I had absolutely nothing. I was a down and out junkie without the junk. I had a week clean and nothing but $10 in my pocket. Fresh off the bus from Minnesota where I was attempting to die through my IV drug use, I was trying to start a new life here in Washington with better habits. Staying at the Union Gospel Mission with a head freshly removed from my hind-end, I was just done detoxing, my track marks semi-healed, no friends, no family, and a lot of work to do.
One cold November Thursday morning I showed up at WorkSource and told them my situation. They sent me next door to the Next Generation Zone and on to the desk of one stern but kind-looking woman. I told her my story and she shot it to me straight, she told me that she wouldn't present me to a business if I was just going to go out and do the same stupid stuff I had done in the past like quit jobs and go get high and fall off the face of the earth. She gave me a couple of phone numbers for some sober houses, and a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting list, and told me to come back Monday with some more clean time and progress and she'd work with me. Little did I know then the great service she did me with that simple suggestion. One of the numbers she gave me directed me to the desk of one Niko T, House President of the Freya Oxford House. That house has been my home since, and the brotherhood I have developed in that house has been amazing for my life progress and my recovery.
Miss Robin K pretty much saved my life. With her help, I have broken the 3 month mark without the use of any mind altering chemicals, she's been relentlessly supportive of my recovery. I go to at least one NA meeting a day, and I help others get off the street and in to the program, giving to them what was so freely given to me, relentless unconditional love and acceptance. She has helped me get a job, at Domino's Pizza, where I love working, and I am going to be a full time assistant manager soon. She is my Spokane Mom, and I love her more than words can express. Thank you to the Next Generation Zone for saving my life, and being here so I could meet the lovely Miss Robin Knott, my Guardian Angel, and treasured friend.