Ricky

“I Have Hope for the Future”

After years of trying to numb his pain, Ricky has found peace.

If Ricky had to choose one word to describe most of his life, it might be pain. Physical pain. Psychological pain. Spiritual pain.

Desperate for relief, Ricky turned to alcohol. He started sneaking vodka from his parents at the age of 14, and he never slowed down.

“I was never a social drinker,” he says. “I always drank to get drunk. I wasn’t done till I was falling down.”

He enlisted in the Navy as a teen, and served as a gunner’s mate on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam, blowing up enemy submarines. “That’s how my PTSD started.”

After the Navy, Ricky’s trauma worsened when he drove wreckers that responded to accidents involving 18-wheelers. He would arrive at crash scenes before they had been cleared, and saw horrors one can only imagine.

The more trauma he experienced, the more he drank. He says he never drove drunk, but only after hours and on weekends.

In a 2012 wreck while driving a tractor trailer, Ricky suffered a broken back and had five discs fused together. More pain, more alcohol.

He says drinking “almost cost me everything, because I couldn’t stop.” It ruined his marriage and other relationships. And it almost ruined his life.

“He says drinking “almost cost me everything, because I couldn’t stop.” It ruined his marriage and other relationships. And it almost ruined his life.”

In the fall of 2023, Ricky was at the end of his rope, penniless and homeless. He slept on the streets for almost a week, but his back was in chronic pain.

Ricky was desperate. He considered committing a minor crime “just to get arrested, so I could go to jail and spend the winter there.”

But before making that choice, Ricky had a much better idea: He decided to try The Union Mission instead.

Finding Relief

“They’ve got my back.”

It’s been more than a year since Ricky walked through our doors, a decision made possible by the compassionate support of friends like you.

He knew he needed relief from his physical and mental pain. What he didn’t realize, though, was that there was a spiritual emptiness in his life too.

When he got to the Mission, our team began addressing all of Ricky’s pain, including the hole in his soul. It wasn’t long before Ricky found God.

“These are true believers in Christ who work here,” he says. “You can’t help but want to be like them. You want the peace that they have, and to live the life they’re living.”

And then more physical pain: Earlier this year, Ricky was hanging a picture in his room when he fell off a chair.

“I broke four ribs, punctured a hole in my lung, and ruptured my colon,” he says. As he was waking up after emergency surgery, he had a vision.

“I saw a bright light and a silhouette of three individuals,” he remembers. “One of them said to me, ‘We’re not ready for you yet.’ And then they were gone.”
Ricky believes he lived so he could tell that story — to anyone who’ll listen.

After that incident, Ricky spent almost a month in the hospital before returning to the Mission, where he continues his recovery. Though the pain has been intense, he has avoided alcohol . . . though he admits he’s been tempted. But he’s determined.

He intends “to whip this alcoholism thing once and for all.”

Ricky says the Mission team “has got my back,” and he knows you do too. And he’s grateful.

“The Union Mission is the best-kept secret on the East Coast,” he says. “And the people here are extraordinary. They’re really here to help you. They give me a place to sleep and eat, three meals a day. I’m happy here. And I have hope for the future.”