The Story of Ray Ysaguirre

Born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission district, Ray Ysiguirre grew up in a big family of three boys and three girls. As he tells his story, it was a fun childhood with lots of freedom. Maybe too much freedom, with a single mom working to care for her kids, and no dad around to enforce any discipline. Ray admits to doing pretty much what he wanted, when he wanted. Drugs were everywhere in the neighborhood, one of the most densely populated in San Francisco, and were a way of life, a key to being accepted. Ray was a popular kid, he liked the acceptance he got being “the man” dealing drugs and buying material things.

Things began to change for Ray after high school and the downward spiral that lead to a life on the street began. He moved on to crack cocaine use and excessive alcohol consumption. While bright and personable, substance abuse lead to problems with attendance and reliability, making it hard for Ray to keep and hold a job.

As the drug problem worsened, so did his relationship with his family. Ray began to steal from his family to support his habit. Things got so unbearable that his mother eventually took legal action – she received a restraining order – to keep Ray away from home and his brothers and sisters. At eighteen years of age, Ray Ysiguirre became homeless. Ray’s homelessness was to last for five years, during which Ray experienced things he doesn’t like to dwell on today and says we can’t begin to imagine, even in our worst nightmares.

Ray says the turning point came at a period when he had been in and out of jail and was in a hotel room doing drugs. He stopped and looked around the room and was shocked by what he saw. Ray felt he was a very different person from the others in the room and stopped to ask himself what he was doing with his life. At that point, the pattern of his life was paranoia from the crack cocaine, frequent incarceration and jail time, and nothing of substance or value.

This period Ray was basically living in the alleys around Sixth Street, sleeping in the alley near CityTeam mission at 164 6th Street between Howard and Mission. One day he saw a group of people hanging around in front of the entrance, waiting to go in for a meal. Being exhausted, demoralized and hungry, Ray put aside his pride and decided to go inside. As Ray described it, that meal was memorable for another reason; Ray met a man who was to be instrumental in turning his life around – Don Miller , an employee of CityTeam . Don was interested in Ray as a person, asking Ray his name and to tell his story it would take three more months, an arrest for possession of drugs and time in the San Bruno jail for Ray to really reach out and change his life.

Don had given Ray a card and promised him that if he needed help, all he had to do was call. While in jail, Ray asked his mother to give Don a call and that set in motion a positive spiral of events. When Ray was released in September of 1998, he went straight to the CityTeam offices on 6th street where he sat out front for two hours, dealing with a real moral dilemma. Ray had money in his pocket, and an offer from one of the most powerful drug dealers in the city to be put up in a high class apartment with all his needs taken care of if Ray would just go back to dealing drugs. Ray made the choice that changed his life forever and went into CityTeam to begin a one-year program of treatment, training, and rehabilitation. But first, Ray and Don had to help get Ray squared away with some outstanding warrants.

After spending 30 days as a resident with CityTeam, CityTeam staff went to court with Ray and helped Ray convince the judge that one year in the CityTeam Residential Recovery Program, combined with the CityTeam Work Start Shelter offering would be more beneficial to Ray and the community than a year in prison.

Now Ray began the program that gave him the tools he needed to master himself, and in so doing, build the skills and gain the tools he needed to master his environment. Days at CityTeam combine regular domestic activities such as study and work with the important spiritual activities such as prayer and service to others.

After one year in the program with CityTeam, Ray was ready to look for work. CityTeam was there for him during this vital transition period with the option to stay in residence for another year to get securely on his feet. Working with counselors at CityTeam Ray got the help he needed to repay back taxes and other debts, clear up his legal issues, make amends to those he had harmed during his addiction phase and get right with himself and others. Ray continued to live in a structured environment that offered the discipline to prepare a budget, and pave the way for re-entry into real life. Today Ray is still very much involved with CityTeam, is back in school and helping others in the CityTeam Recovery Program. Asked what is most important about his new life, he’ll tell you it’s the blessing of feeling God using him to reach out to others, to deliver a message of hope, to inspire others to find the courage to make that vital decision of asking for help and then getting help.