If you could meet Helen I think you’d agree that she’s a pretty awesome kid. Raised by her single dad from birth, this 9-year-old third-grader loves to dance and play the flute (and pound away on the drums when she gets the chance). She’s a helper by nature who loves to serve. At church, she sings in the children’s choir, serves as a junior usher and dances in the Christian arts ministry. Her dad, Robert, even has her help him out in the church’s food and clothing pantry ministry.
Robert always wanted to raise Helen God’s way – to teach her to know and love God, and to know God’s love for her. He wanted to show her a lifestyle of sharing God’s love with others. Because of Robert’s example, following and serving God is a way of life for Helen.
But Robert’s life was not always heading in the right direction. Before Helen was born, Robert’s life had spiraled out of control. He was ensnared in a life of drugs and crime. Robert came to know the Lord in 1999; that same year he was incarcerated.
In 2003 Robert came to the Whosoever Gospel Mission. He credits the Mission’s classes, chapels and staff with being the tools God used to pluck him off the path he was on and set him on the right one. It’s where he finally committed his life to the Lord, found the strength to overcome his addictions, and as he says to “dust off” his brain.
Robert graduated from the Mission’s New Life Program on March 17, 2004 – just four months before Helen was born, and he’s never looked back to his old life. Today, in addition to being a fulltime dad, Robert is a Certified Peer Specialist and Trainer for Northwest Human Services, a missionary of his local church, and an alumnus of the Whosoever Gospel Mission.
One of Robert’s greatest joys is bringing Helen with him to the Mission as he serves as chairman of his church’s annual dinner and chapel ministry at the Whosoever Gospel Mission.
Robert has a very simple but heart-felt message for the Mission’s friends and donors – thank you. Because of strangers like you who loved Robert enough to help him by supporting the Mission, Helen has a dad today. And that’s made all the difference in the world!
Robert’s church brings a double feast of spiritual and physical food
