From the time Darius could remember, his father used alcohol and drugs in front of him. Eventually, he began sharing them with Darius. By 13 he was already a full-blown alcoholic and drug addict. When his mother died in 2002, Darius had no idea how to manage his grief other than to numb himself. Instead of continuing to use cocaine and "speed", they began using an even more dangerous drug - meth. Over the next two years, Darius spiraled out of control. His weight dropped to a shockingly low 125 pounds. "I started really losing my mind," recalls Darius. Finally, the young man realized the end was near for him. With nowhere else to turn, he came to Seattle's Union Gospel Mission.

Today, Darius is a new man inside and out. "I see 14, 15, 16-year-old kids that are just lost, doing drugs, following the same path I did. It's sad. So I want to do something to try and help them, because someone helped me." Darius completed our addiction recovery program last August and is now working hard in our yearlong Christian service internship program.