When Life Exploded

Billy didn’t stand a chance. His father, both a drug addict and alcoholic, physically abused him, his siblings and his mother. At a young age he was forced to protect his mother from his father’s outbursts. He was the adult in this fragile home. He wasn’t loved or protected.

As a young teen, Billy found acceptance, friendship, and brotherhood in a biker gang. He assumed a new identity—Bear. Bear was tough. With a new-found confidence and community he abandoned all rules and authority. He became involved in organized crime. This was a small price to pay for the family he found in his biker gang. Then, his criminal involvement put him behind bars.

After serving time in prison, Bear left his biker gang to clean up his life. He became a father and highly invested in his daughter’s life. He fell in love and married. For two decades life was good.

In 2000 “life exploded,” says Bear. His daughter died in a tragic car accident. His mother passed away. He divorced his wife after he discovered she was cheating on him with one of his closest friends. In one year Bear lost all he had lived for.

Bear used drugs to ease his pain and quickly was addicted. He turned to The Salvation Army Harbour Light for help and successfully completed their drug-treatment program. He moved to Vancouver Island and stayed clean for the next five years.

During these five years, Bear suffered five heart attacks. Both his physical and mental health deteriorated. He refused to deal with the inner demons and deep emotions that initially lead him to drug use. Before long Bear reconnected with old friends and started using drugs again. He wanted to get clean and found himself back at The Salvation Army. This time he went to Belkin House in Vancouver.

Belkin House is a modern, residential program facility where the homeless, hungry and broken can find true peace and healing. After treatment for drug

addiction, Bear started a long-term treatment program consisting of holistic transformation. Through extensive counselling, a loving environment and lots of support from friendly staff, Bear rebuilt his life at Belkin House.

Bear experienced healing from the many painful events in his life. He gave up his street name, Bear, and reassumed his original name, Bill. After two years at Belkin House, he now lives on his own and The Salvation Army housing team is assisting him toward living in a long-term seniors’ residence.

Says Bill: “The Salvation Army didn’t give up on me. They gave me a second chance. They’ve helped me stay drug-free. I am on the right medication for my mental-health issues. I have lost weight. If you are willing to listen, you can learn a lot at Belkin house. It changed my life.” [ salvationarmy.ca ]

Whole Foods Market Shoppers Donate $1.8 Million to Empower the Poor

Each year, Whole Foods Market shoppers have the opportunity to donate at the registers and empower the poor through microcredit during the annual campaign. This year, the goal was to raise $1 million and customers donated $1.8 million – wow!, Whole Planet Foundation will now be able to reach impoverished communities in South America that supply Whole Foods Market stores with product. Last year, your donations enabled Whole Planet Foundation to fund microlending projects in Africa, supporting the very poor in Kenya and Ethiopia where Whole Foods Market sources coffee.   Every dollar goes a long way.

Sub-par but not subprime

Lending to the poor has held up well but it is not as safe from the credit crisis as its champions hoped

A GLOBAL credit crisis caused by subprime mortgages is hardly the ideal backdrop for a business making unsecured loans to poor people without a credit history. Yet big microfinance companies, which do exactly that, seem to be in rude health. Mohammad Yunus, the unflappably optimistic founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, a microfinance institution for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, is adamant that business remains unscathed. “We have not been touched in any way by the financial crisis,” he said on a recent visit to Japan. “The simple reason is because we are rooted to the real economy—we are not paper-based, paper-chasing banking. When we give a loan of $100, behind the $100 there are chickens, there are cows. It is not something imaginary.”  [More...]