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Life Stories
Tom
Tom grew up in a loving Christian home. He was your normal kid who grew up and went to Bible college, got married and became a pastor, ministering for over 15 years. Everything was going great but out of the blue one day, he tripped and fell, tearing apart his knee severely. He took large amounts of prescription drugs to relive the daily pain. Then he started drinking alcohol on top of that. His wife soon left him and he lost his job. Everything was falling apart in his life. He alienated himself away from his friends and family. He was embarrassed to have people see him in this state of brokenness.
One day he was so depressed and struggling with his addiction, he decided to end it all by trying to commit suicide with a massive amount of pills. The doctors were surprised he lived after his heart stopped for five minutes. One of the hospital case workers had a deep desire to find a place where Tom could heal. She had heard about CityTeam on the radio and came down for a tour to checkout if this place was really “real”. She loved CityTeam and went back to the hospital to tell Tom about it. He was resistant at first, but finally realized he needed a place to stay that first night out the hospital. At this point, he was truly homeless and walked through the doors with just the clothes on his back. While at CityTeam, he found the healing and full recovery program he needed to make changes happen in his life. Today, Tom is the volunteer Homeless Coordinator who greets the homeless each night and shares his story of how change is possible if you really want it.
*The name has been changed to protect our client's privacy.
Tracy Lybeck
After his mother passed away, Tracy Lybeck resorted to alcohol to deal with the grief. The alcoholic lifestyle eventually led to Tracy dropping out of high school, inability to hold a job, and numerous times in jail. Eventually, he lived a life of homelessness and was ready to give up on life...until his sister told him about CityTeam International in Portland. Tracy went through CityTeam's recovery program, graduated, and is now an intern for the Family & Community Outreach program with CityTeam.
