Spring Break
Lifesaver
Buying a sweet treat can help recovering addicts stay off the street.
Steve Markley, Senior Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/25/06 Section: Features
"It saved my life," said Chris Giannamore, 34. "If I hadn't found this place I'd be dead or in a situation where I wished I was dead. They opened their doors to me. All I cared about was that it was a free place to stay."
Giannamore's life cannot be easily categorized as the typical drug addiction narrative. A Cincinnati native, he graduated from Xavier University.
"Somehow from there I ended up smoking crack," Giannamore said. "And then next thing I know, I'm 27 years old and out on the street. It took everything from me."
Giannamore now works as an administrator for the Restoration Church and has been doing so ever since he beat his addictions more than seven years ago.
Mason's story is similar. After graduating from Ball State University in 1994 with a degree in speech/communication, he became heavily involved with drugs and alcohol.
"My life wasn't supposed to go that way," Mason said. "But it did. And people need to realize that no matter who you are, you're never invincible."
Mason admits he was by no means looking to find God. Like Giannamore, he needed a place to say.
"Spirituality was the last thing I was after," Mason said. "I just wanted off of drugs. And then I was able to do that through God, by realizing that God has a living power."
James Buckley, 35, is new to the program. He's been living in the church for two months and already feels like he's getting a second chance. He's battled addictions before and explains that the power of substance abuse is difficult to describe to those who have never been there.
"It's an amazing stranglehold," Buckley said. "You hate what it's doing to you, what it's doing to the people you love, but it has you and you're almost powerless. It's impossible to understand if you've never lived through it."
Buckley, Mason and Giannamore are three examples of success within the program. Giannamore admits that the Restoration Ministries certainly do not succeed in every case, but that this is usually the result of the individual and not the program.
Giannamore's life cannot be easily categorized as the typical drug addiction narrative. A Cincinnati native, he graduated from Xavier University.
"Somehow from there I ended up smoking crack," Giannamore said. "And then next thing I know, I'm 27 years old and out on the street. It took everything from me."
Giannamore now works as an administrator for the Restoration Church and has been doing so ever since he beat his addictions more than seven years ago.
Mason's story is similar. After graduating from Ball State University in 1994 with a degree in speech/communication, he became heavily involved with drugs and alcohol.
"My life wasn't supposed to go that way," Mason said. "But it did. And people need to realize that no matter who you are, you're never invincible."
Mason admits he was by no means looking to find God. Like Giannamore, he needed a place to say.
"Spirituality was the last thing I was after," Mason said. "I just wanted off of drugs. And then I was able to do that through God, by realizing that God has a living power."
James Buckley, 35, is new to the program. He's been living in the church for two months and already feels like he's getting a second chance. He's battled addictions before and explains that the power of substance abuse is difficult to describe to those who have never been there.
"It's an amazing stranglehold," Buckley said. "You hate what it's doing to you, what it's doing to the people you love, but it has you and you're almost powerless. It's impossible to understand if you've never lived through it."
Buckley, Mason and Giannamore are three examples of success within the program. Giannamore admits that the Restoration Ministries certainly do not succeed in every case, but that this is usually the result of the individual and not the program.
