Saturday Morning I received a very touching email from a former Tyler Square graduate and his family who had attended last weeks graduation ceremony. I got his ok to share it with you. DC “Hello everyone.. My name is James Rooth. My family and I are past graduate’s of Tyler Square.. Our good friend Tiffany Salese invited us to the graduation ceremonies on Friday night. My wife and I are so very happy we went. It brought back the memories and gratitude of what the Tacoma Rescue Mission gave to us. In October of 2004 I was a hopeless drug addict. My only choices in life surrounded getting and using..I lost my job due to using and I received a eviction notice and felt like I was the biggest loser in the world. I didn’t know how to be a husband or a father. And surely I didn’t know how to love myself or have hope for a future. I was in a deep dark hole and just wanted out. I started calling the family shelter while we were packing our belongings and moving them to storage. We were living in our empty home with 2 days left when we were told there was a space for us. We were scared and didn’t know what lay ahead. My family and I came to the shelter with some clothes and was given a room. I knew that God was working in my life. I thought that God had given up on me but the fact was that he had been there all along. I had given up on myself. I had always had the thought that the shelter’s were for people that lived on the streets and just didn’t want to better themselves. I met people that were like me and had just given up and wanted a way out. People that had lost there home’s due to injuries. In fact I had always just felt that I was unique and different. My sister in law was a resident at Tyler Square and we knew we had to go through the shelter to get there. Brandie helped us with the paper-work and after 40 days at the shelter we were accepted at Tyler Square. A brand new start and a new way to live. A-2 was our new home. We immediately jumped in and did everything we needed to do to stay there and more. I finally had hope and faith in a future. I was out of that hole that I had been in for so long. My children were able to look at me instead of down at me. Shortly after arriving at Tyler Square we found out that my wife was pregnant. With the help of staff she got through a very long and difficult pregnancy.My wife and I were asked to participate in a documentary that was being done on the Tacoma Rescue mission. The people from Tacoma TV 12 came to our apartment and interviewed us. All I could do was to give gratitude and tell how much this program had given us. I went back to school while living there and got my CDL to drive truck. We attended meeting’s in a 12 step program. While at Tyler Square the new part opened and we were allowed to move to G-3. I started working and before we left I had gotten a job that exceeded the limits to have section 8. It was time for us to graduate and move on in life. They did not have graduation like they do now when we left. It was such a very special thing at the graduation tonight to honor those people that have come out of the darkness and back to the light. We have since moved back into the very same home that we lost in 2004. We have been here for 3 years. God has given us so much. I give thanks to him 1st and thank-you to all the staff at the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Since leaving we have taken a lot of left’s when we should have gone right but life is about learning from your mistakes and God has kepted bringing us back to the right path. I have been out of work on work injury since February 14, 2008. I had surgery on August 8th to my neck and may have to have another. My wife does a fantastic job of managing the money and getting the bills paid. Gratitude is a big part of our life today. Listening to the speaker last night gave me that push to remember that. We have so much more than the still suffering addict or alcoholic that is on the streets.Or the mother and children that are being abused. May God bring him or her to a new beginning at the Tacoma Rescue Mission. I just watched that video from Adam’s Square that is being built. What an awesome thing. I hope that someday I will be able to give back just a little of what the Tacoma Rescue Mission has given me. The satisfaction and pride that you must feel to watch someone climb out the darkness and spread there wing’s and fly. Anyway after attending the graduation I just needed to write this. Happy Holidays to you all and God bless..” James and Angelique Rooth
