Paul's Story
It was the summer of 2007, I was homeless and living in Oppenheimer Park and I woke up and that morning there was hundreds of people buzzing around there setting up the BBQ. I took advantage of the food situation. I’d been living there 6 months. I saw three people get killed. I was talking to Mike Jobin, and I didn’t even realize that there was a shelter or services at UGM – everything I did was west of Oppenheimer Park. I didn’t stay often because it was a warm summer. One day before the meal, one of the Outreach Workers was speaking and he told everyone about the Alcohol & Drug Recovery Program. I didn’t even know there was one at UGM; I didn’t know that that was what the rest of the building was. So that was very informative. Everyday that week they were talking about it and that’s what did it for me. In January 2008 I started the Recovery Program.
This January is my two years. I was using cocaine. The first time I ever tried cocaine I was 18. From then until I was 30, I only used a few times a year, on special occasions. I was living in the Caribbean at the time, bartending at a resort, as I did for most of the 90s, and in a very short period of time, I lost my dad and my daughter, and subsequently the woman I was with at the time, and that’s when things started to turn ugly for me. I lost 60 pounds during that time.
I was born and raised in Vancouver. Once 9/11 hit, all the Americans went home and it kind of killed the tourism industry there, so I came back up here on September 17, 2001. I stayed with my brother when I was back in Vancouver and I was a little bit cleaner than I’d been in the Caribbean, and for a while it was ok. But when I started working again, I started spending my money in the wrong places. My brother got married, so I was out of his place and my only option at that time was to move in with my mom, which wasn’t healthy for either of us. She caught me using a couple times and said, “Next time you’re out.” And the next time I used, I left on my own. I couldn’t hold a job. I had always been the star at all of my jobs, but now I couldn’t even hold one.
I had proved to myself that I was… I don’t know anything. I had tried everything and nothing worked, I don’t know anything, so I was like a lump of clay ready to be formed. I listened to everything everyone told me, and what I needed to do. It was amazing. I can’t believe I just moved into a house full of drug addicts, but I’ve never felt so loved and it feels like home. It was like that when I came, then I passed that on to the new guys. It makes me feel like there’s something other than humanity in this building.
One meal can change your life. And certainly the BBQ at the park changed mine.
Photo: Paul (pictured)
I’d never been exposed to Christianity before. My family lived godly lives, but we never went to church or anything. There’s definitely no denying that the people here and myself didn’t do this just by ourselves.
I knew when I got better that I’d like to move back south to a Spanish-speaking country. So I actually went to René and I asked him what to do. I had no idea where to start. He said pray to God. And practically, while I was waiting for an answer, he said to think about what country, specifically, I’d like to go to. Pick a country and focus. Get on the internet, learn everything you can and see what they needed. So I prayed about it that night. And the next day was the Summer BBQ. That day I ran into a guy who I knew from the streets and I brought him up to UGM and for 45 minutes we sat in Reception and filled out an application and then I went back to the BBQ. Later that night, we had our in-house meeting. Jesus (another resident) shared at the meeting that he was from Guatemala, and then I went to my room and I was watching Law and Order and saw that the criminal was from Guatemala, so I thought it was a sign. I went downstairs and started researching Guatemala the very next day. I saw a link that said ‘learn Spanish in Guatemala’ and I ended up researching different schools, and I was on my way. I ended up going to Guatemala for 3 months (7mos after talking to René).
I met my wife online 3 months before I went down there. She was there at the airport to pick me up. Her name is Andrea. So we got married August 24th 2009, six months to the day after we’d exchanged email addresses. We’ll be raising her daughter, who’ll be 7 in March. So I get to be Mr. Mom. I’m opening a video game room in our garage and people will pay by the hour to use the computer or Playstations.
If I hadn’t come to UGM, I might have been one of those people who died in the park. I don’t like to think about it too much, but there’s no question that my walking in the door here saved my life. That’s why I’m still helping out here, wherever I can. I want the new guys to feel the way I felt when I came in. Welcomed and loved. I feel bad that I’m leaving, but maybe that’s the stronger message: that I’m moving forward. But this (UGM) will always be my home.
One meal can change your life. And certainly the BBQ at the park changed mine.
Helping serve the residents here is how I give my thanks. And I give my thanks verbally whenever I can, but the people I’m not able to thank in person are the people who are probably the most important: the donors. Without them, I wouldn’t be here, the counsellors wouldn’t be here, they wouldn’t have been able to save me. I’d really like to thank them for saving my life (he says tears welling up in his eyes).
