TAMMY BELIEVES THAT "EVERYBODY DESERVES A CHANCE"
My name is Tammy; I’m a 2016 graduate of the Magdalene Residential Program. Today, I have four years clean. I speak as one voice for many women who experience the lies of addiction.
When I first came around Thistle Farms, I had been in and out of jail. Jail was my first, second, and third home. I had a stroke in my sleep in jail, went to the hospital, and the doctors put a stent in my chest. I knew I didn’t want to go back out to the street. The judge told me I needed a longer stay facility.
I got to the Magdalene Residential Program, scared, still straddling the fence over whether or not I could do this. I got into the program, and I finally started doing what was best for me- building my self esteem and contacting my family and kids. God does do second chances. I’m going to my computer classes and gaining valuable life skills. I’m working my 12 steps and the spiritual principles. I just want to be an ordinary human.
I didn’t want to get clean before. In this program, there are other women who were there and did what I did. I didn’t think there was a program for sexual abuse and trafficking.
“If He brings you to it, He’ll bring you through it.” The judge and the Thistle Farms Residential Program, Magdalene, saved my life. For 19 years I was homeless, addicted, away from anyone I knew, and was constantly in and out of jail. The program means so much to me. I have my own money. I have my own savings. I’m about to get my own place. I know God has bigger and better things for me. The program has afforded me the chance to make choices of my own. I don’t have to accept or do anything I don’t want to do anymore. At one point in my life, I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. I didn’t know myself; I was just existing. I now live and stand for something. I would never have imagined that I was valued and appreciated in this world.
Today, I’m a different person. I love my job. I love being self-sufficient. I’ve never had a job this long; it will be three years in a few months! I love my people and their support. I like helping another woman come off the street. I like to see people I know from the streets that got clean. Everybody deserves a second chance.
