Antonyo’s Story

Antonyo was living in the darkness of addiction. Now, his life is restored!

Before Antonyo came to the Mission, he was homeless and addicted to drugs. He calls it the darkest time of his life. “My life revolved around drugs. I would do anything I could to get them.” Antonyo floated from place to place—staying at friends’ houses, riding buses and trains until they stopped running and sleeping in his car. He describes homelessness as “horrible.”

The darkness Antonyo felt grew heavier than ever when one of his sons was murdered in a drive-by shooting.
“That was the worst day of my life,” he says. Addiction tightened its grip on Antonyo as he grappled with grief. The temporary relief that drugs gave Antonyo felt worth the cost—until one night when he almost lost his life. Antonyo was on his way to buy some drugs when he was jumped by a group of men. They stabbed him in the head and crushed his ankle, putting him in the hospital for weeks. He felt surrounded by darkness.

But a conversation on the phone changed everything for Antonyo. His daughter called him in tears, saying, “Dad, I’m praying for you, that you can get your life back together. You’re a good dad. “Her phone call was my wake-up call,” says Antonyo. “She made me want to be somebody better. I decided to fight back.” Antonyo says he came to the Mission as a broken man. But walking through our doors was the beginning of his transformation.

“The Mission taught me not just how to get off drugs like other programs do. It also taught me the Bible,” says Antonyo. “The people here don’t have an ulterior motive. They’re real men and women of God who care about me as a person and saw something in me that I couldn’t see.”

Now, Antonyo is living in Lambert House, our transitional housing program for men on the road to recovery. He’s looking forward to finding his own place, getting married and being someone his children can look up to.

“I’m so thankful to not have to be so scared all the time, or wondering where I’ll get money for my next high,” says Antonyo. “The God I serve says, Who God sets free is free indeed.” Antonyo is living proof of that promise. If you meet him in person, Antonyo will tell you that your generosity opens the door to restoration.

“You ‘re saving someone’s life-someone who doesn ‘t have the means or tools. This program has opened up so many opportunities to change lives. It changed mine. “