Renewal Story: Tommy

The road to UGM-TC was a long one for Tommy – literally. “It took me two weeks to get here from El Paso,” he remembers. “I walked 150 of those miles. I had blisters on the bottom of my feet.” Tommy made it to a truck stop, where a generous driver bought him a bus ticket to Fort Worth.

 Before making his way to the Mission, Tommy had been incarcerated and stayed at a halfway house. He remembered UGM-TC from staying here briefly some years before he believed he could get the help he needed to turn his life around. “I didn’t come in here with an addiction,” he explains. “I was just down and out.”

Since coming to UGM-TC last summer, Tommy says his whole outlook on life has changed, thanks to the support he’s received. “The Mission has helped me a lot. They got my driver’s license renewed. Man, that’s a blessing right there! I’m getting my foot in the door with a tow company right now.”

Tommy is also working on restoring his relationship with his family. “I burned too many bridges, “ he admits. “My wife passed away and the kids are out there on their own. My daughters have got babies now, and I’ve seen pictures, but I haven’t held them yet. One of these days.” By the time Tommy holds his grandchildren, he hopes to be in a home of his own.

From that kind truck driver to caring friends like you, Tommy has plenty of people to thank for his new beginning. “They’re why UGM-TC is what it is. That’s why I came here.”