August 31, 2015

Desperate to Escape Poverty After 46 Years

EGM-2015-09-NL-Shareable2Steve* is 46. He grew up the child of a single mom in the projects of Rainier Valley. “Everybody was fighting,” he remembers of what life was like at the tender age of 10.

He had his first drink of rum out of a sippy cup. He was just five years old when he ended up in the emergency room with alcohol poisoning.

His hard young life was made even more complicated by a bone disease that required braces and surgery early on for him to walk normally. Only he never got them, “I walked like a penguin,” said Steve.

By the age of 12, he was disabled, struggling in school, and heading for trouble.

“I made a weed pipe for my mom in arts and crafts and painted it purple,” recalled Steve of those last years before he dropped out. “As I got older, I wasn’t forced to go to school, so I didn’t go.”

Steve’s parents thought their only job was to keep food in the house and keep a roof over their son’s head. They said, “We’re doing our part to keep you off the street, keep you clothed and fed. Do what you want.”

More than a Plate of Food

Steve needed more. He needed HOPE.

Without hope that things would ever change, or that he could escape the poverty he was born into, Steve dropped out of school. He faced life equipped with only a middle school education.

After he stopped attending school, the lack of parental supervision made it easy for Steve to start running with the wrong crowd. His parents didn’t care enough to step in. He started selling drugs just to make ends meet.

For decades Steve was in and out of Jail. When his parents passed away he realized that if he didn’t get help, he’d never escape the life he was born into.

 “I’m trying to break the cycle,” Steve says.

Feeding Hope

Your prayers, support and donations do more than just provide food and shelter for people like Steve. You provide hope by sharing the love of God and funding programs that help people overcome the obstacles that keep them hungry, homeless and hopeless.

“I’ve achieved so much already,” Steve says. “I know a lot of people have been living like that for so long that they’re lost and don’t know how to go back.”

Each $25 you give will help someone like Steve escape the cycle of poverty, by feeding hope and getting to the root of the problem.