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Vikki’s Story

Vikki is no stranger to fear. She’s experienced seasons of homelessness that saw her sleeping in other people’s homes, on the streets, in her car, even dope houses. Pain and abuse in her childhood led to experimenting with drugs in her young adult years. She’s struggled with an addiction to cocaine ever since.

I think my lowest point was homelessness and separation from my children. I just felt hopeless and helpless and all the ‘-lesses’ that come with addiction,” she remembers.

Vikki has tried a variety of recovery programs in the past fifteen years and has even experienced significant stretches of sobriety, but her addiction continued to pull her back. Finally, desperate to break the cycle once and for all, she searched the Internet for faith-based programs . . . and that’s when she found Hope Ministries.

Vikki is from Ohio and had never been to Iowa before, so the thought of coming all this way was daunting at first. But when she called Hope Center to learn more about our life recovery program, she discovered one of our staff members had grown up only five miles from her in Toledo. “She told me to come, so I did. As soon as I walked through the doors, I could tell this was where I was supposed to be. It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.”

That was January 2020. Now, a year and a half later, Vikki is more convinced than ever that her decision to come to Hope Ministries was the life-changing step she’d been looking for.

“If I had found this place the first time I was looking for treatment, I probably wouldn’t have needed another treatment,” she says. “It’s everything I needed. Hope Ministries has helped me spiritually, mentally, emotionally—and in my drug addiction. I don’t even look at it as treatment. Right now, it’s home.”

In addition to receiving nutritious meals, safe shelter and counseling, she’s also worked hard to address the core issues underlying her addiction. She’s enjoyed her work skills training at our thrift stores and is in touch with her family back in Ohio daily. She calls her two adult sons, her grandchildren and her father her “biggest cheerleaders.”

“I’m the daughter of a minister and I lived for so long on borrowed faith. Being here, I’ve rededicated my life to Christ and my faith has increased tenfold,” she says.

This spring, Vikki completed CORE, which is the first stage of our life recovery program. As she continues on in her recovery at Hope Center, she’s also beginning an accelerated RN program.

“I don’t know where I’d be if not here. It’s actually scary to think about. I feel like God saved me,” she says today. “Before I came to Hope Ministries, my life was total destructive living. But now I’ve learned a better way to live. I have hope for the future. I look forward to it!