Don
Don has had a rough life. At birth, Don was taken from his mother and put into the foster care system. He was molested by two employees while living in a group home, which lead to feelings of depression and inadequacy. His hair and teeth began falling out as a child due to a severe lack of calcium, and he didn’t learn how to read, prompting him to drop out of high school.
At 18, Don aged out of foster care and lived on the streets of Pasadena. He turned to drugs and alcohol, and for the next 16 years he was homeless and spent a year in prison. After Don was released from prison, he came to Union Station and began attending AA and NA meetings.
Fast forward 15 years. Don now has two children, and thanks to the City of Pasadena, received a first-time home buyer credit and was able to purchase a home. Don is still sober today and has never been late on his mortgage payments.
States Don, “I don’t have a father or a mother that I can call up and say, ‘Hey, can I come raid your fridge?’ But I’ve got a friend named Liz (a long-time Union Station employee) and an organization that takes donations from all the good people out there called Union Station. They’re my family.”
Also in Meet Our Brothers-in-need
Charlie
John
Angry and feeling inadequate, John’s early bad judgments and bouts with drugs and alcohol found him at age 33 living in his car.
