David's Story

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"Peggy found me living in squalor. An apartment littered with empty Pepsi bottles and chocolate milk cartons, which was my main diet. I was living with the grief of losing the love of my life.

Peggy didn`t see me as a broken man. She saw the person that I could journey back to. She helped me see that I could get better, 15 minutes at a time. She gave me an egg timer and explained that miracles can happen if I would just try to live 15 minutes once a day. It wasn`t easy, but her faith in me gave me the courage to try and pull myself out of my despair.

I succeeded, but we lost touch.

A few years later I decided to become a Peer Support Worker so that I might in some small way, pay forward the blessing that had been given to me. To my great surprise, it was Peggy that was the teacher of the course. I like to think that I was a star pupil. I didn`t take the course so that I could find a job. I just wanted to be a better person and help people in a more effective way. Like Peggy had done for me.

Peggy sent me on missions. Helping a prisoner find his way, or helping a man retain his housing in the shelter system. She trusted me.

It has been a 20 year journey for me. I now have a job at a local hospital. It`s not glamorous, but I am the site supervisor, and my boss respects me.

I know that I wouldn`t be where I am, or even still alive if God had not sent Peggy into my life."

David Carlisle