Charcella Green-Director of Programs

About three months ago, I was sitting in my office at 5:00pm. It was very quiet and I thought that it was a perfect time to do some paper work, return e-mails and think about my plans for tomorrow. The phone rang. It was a young man crying at the other end of the phone. Through his sobs, he said he was at the Five Points MARTA Station when somebody told him to call me.

He said he had lost everything. He had lost his car, his home, his job and even his family. He was at the end of his rope and was really ready to give up. He said that he had never known his blood family. He grew up in foster care. Between his sobs, he asked if there was anything that I could do for somebody in his situation. He said all of his losses were due to using drugs. All he had in the world was his cell phone. He said he was tired and just wanted something different out of life.

After talking to him for a few minutes, I asked him where was he staying and where was he going? He said he was going to a nearby shelter. I asked him if he thought he could wait until tomorrow and come to my office. He said he could. He gave me his cell phone number and said he would come to my office the very next day at 12:00pm.

When I got off the phone with him, I called two of our collaborative partners to see if one of them could meet him at 12:00pm at Samaritan House. One of them was from an organization that specializes in drug treatment counseling called Westcare. Dr. Jordan from Westcare came to my office at 12:00pm. To my surprise the young man came. They found a quiet place in the office to talk. After about an hour, Dr. Jordan took this young many to a detox center in metro Atlanta. On the way out, the young man came by my office and asked me if he could call me from time to time because he had no family. I told him that it would be okay. As a matter of fact, I would be delighted if he called to let me know how he was doing. He actually called me every week for the month and a half he was in detox. I did not speak to him every week but sometimes I would have a message from him. He just wanted to let me know how he was doing. About two weeks before his time was up, he left me a message asking if he could get in the program at Samaritan House. I called him back and explained the requirements. He called me back and said he could meet the requirements and would like to start the very next week.

This is the first time I have told his story. I see him in the building with hope and anticipation about the future. This is very different from my first encounter with him. He has been here a couple of weeks and I believe he will soon have a job.

I could tell this story hundreds of times over. So often people call or come to our office who are on the verge of giving up; they absolutely have nowhere else to turn. Everyday I get to see lives change for the better. I get to see people, who have given up, regain an excitement about the future and about life. So many people today talk about “doom and gloom” but when you have the opportunity to see people at their worst and realize that even they can get up and get started again, I believe there is hope for the future. No matter where we are in life, we can all become productive and contribute to society. At Samaritan House, this happens every single day!!!!