Renewal Story: Melissa

Becoming a mother, Melissa thought, would keep her off drugs and change her life for the better. However, give months after her son Michael was born, Melissa failed a drug test and lost him to child protective services. “I spent 27 days in rehab and then Family Drug Court said ‘Well, you’re going to UGM-TC. That’s your only safe place.’”

Knowing it was the best way to get Michael back, Melissa agreed to join the Mission’s Family Program. “It wasn’t anything like I expected,” she admits. “It was a lot nicer than I thought it would be.”

Melissa found great benefit from counseling and in classes like cooking, parenting and anger management. However, Alpha* gave the young mother the life change she had hoped for. “Alpha brought me closer to God,” she explains. “It gave me a relationship again with Him. Because of that, I’ve come so far in my recovery. I’m a year clean now. I permanently have my son with me.”

Today, Melissa has a job and is working toward finding housing for herself and her son, for whom she now has full custody. “UGM-TC literally changed my life,” she says. “If I hadn’t come here, I would have never had the opportunity to get my first job, to be able to raise my son on my own, as a single mom. I wouldn’t have met the friends that I have.” 

Without your support for UGM-TC, Melissa says, “I would probably be dead or be strung out on drugs. I probably would’ve been heading down a really bad path. But I’ve come a long way and it’s all because of God!” 

*Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that freely explore the basics of Christian faith.