Success Stories

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17

Shelly

From all accounts, Shelly had a hard childhood.  By the time she was ten, her mother had married and divorced three different men.  Sadly, of these three men, two abused Shelly both sexually and physically. Throughout these tumultuous times, she saw her mother turn to alcohol and drugs as a means to dull her pain.  At the age of eleven, Shelly was removed from her home by child protective services.  During this time, Shelly began to have trouble dealing with the many changes in her life and at the age of fifteen, she followed the only example she knew and turned to alcohol and drugs to numb her pain.  By seventeen, Shelly had dropped out of high school and had her first child, a little girl named Jasmine.   At the age of nineteen, Shelly was arrested and convicted for drug possession and Jasmine entered the foster system.  

Upon release, Shelly was accepted into our program, where she was reunited with Jasmine.  During her stay with Exodus, Shelly has remained sober, dedicated herself to learning appropriate parenting skills and earned her GED. She is employed and best of all, Jasmine has a solid home life and a good example to remember as she grows up.

Joy

Joy grew up in an affluent suburb of Dallas.  Her parents provided a solid home and a good example of family.  Sadly, as a teenager, Joy became rebellious and started to associate with the wrong crowd at school.  At fifteen she was consistently using alcohol and drugs to fit in with her friends.  Joy spent the next several years living on the streets and hopping from friend’s house to friend’s house. 

During this time, she found herself pregnant after a drug binge.  Her daughter, Maya, was removed from her custody, at three years of age.  Shortly thereafter, Joy was arrested and convicted on charges of possession and DUI. Upon her release, Joy enrolled in our program and was granted supervised custody of Maya.  Joy has worked hard the past few months to complete the Exodus program; she is scheduled to graduate from Exodus in early 2012.

Cheryl

Cheryl came to Exodus Ministries after serving 12 months in a state jail for drug related charges.  At the time she came into the program, her son, Clay, was 3 years old and her son, Michael, was 18 months old.  Cheryl had very few parenting skills and the boys were not familiar with Cheryl as her mother.  Over the last nine months, Cheryl has developed into a good and loving mother to her sons. 

Cheryl recently accepted a full time receptionist position that shows promise of turning into a career for her.  She remains sober and is positioned to graduate from the program and successfully re-enter society with full time employment and life and parenting skills she learned through classes taught at Exodus. Thanks to the programs and support offered by Exodus, Clay and Michael have a very good chance of leading a life made of positive and productive choices unlike those that Cheryl made in the past.