A Testimony of Second Chances
To Everyone Involved with Operation Rise Again:
I don’t know where I would be today if not for Operation Rise Again. Most likely dead or in prison.
Before I started my path to recovery, I had spent a total of eight years in prison - always going in, coming out, and going right back in. When I was nineteen, my mother died of an overdose. I used that as an excuse to keep messing up all through my adulthood. I was caught in a never-ending cycle. At 33 years old, I was still living like a boy. I never had a license, never owned a car, nothing. In 2021, I had my daughter. On Valentine’s Day 2023, I woke up to her being exposed to fentanyl. I was arrested yet again. Sitting there, I found myself screaming to God to help me one last time. And He did.
While being held on a no-bond warrant, for some reason God touched the hearts of the state working my case, and I was sentenced to the drug court program. Instead of just releasing me, they went the extra mile and made treatment one of the conditions of my plea. That’s when my drug court officer discovered Operation Rise Again. In just one day, I was approved for funding into a treatment program called The Oaks in Greenwood, SC. The next morning, the detention center escorted me there. I was received with open arms, regardless of my past. After a month, for the first time in my life, I knew I wasn’t alone - that there were other people battling the same disease I was. By the grace of God, today I am over 14 months sober.
I am now an admissions coordinator at the program that taught me the tools to navigate this path. I have a driver’s license for the first time in my life, a car, and another job I am blessed with. Most importantly, I have my child back in my life. None of this may have happened if I hadn’t been blessed with the opportunity from Operation Rise Again. To those who donate - thank you. Not only has my life been given an incredible opportunity, but my child has her father. Words cannot express my gratitude.
So in return, I try to keep helping the next man whenever I can, letting them know there is a better way.
God bless you,
Jordan