So if you don't know me, my name is Casey and I have struggled my whole life with drugs and alcohol. I'm now 35 and have over a year of sobriety, and I'm sticking to my recovery like it's my last chance at life. I was never your normal addict who was a bad person; in fact, I'm such a good person I would give the shirt off my back or my last dollar to someone who needs it just as bad. The problem is, because I messed up, I have to work hard labor jobs that simply don't pay very much, yet I show up and do the work every day without question or complaint. I know if you have gotten this far, you may be thinking this is just another sob story, and maybe you're right because, yes, life is hard. But for me, life has been unbearable at times to the point I was willing to kill myself. There were times I didn't speak to family out of the shame and guilt of my drug use, telling myself that their lives would be better off without me in it. That was never the case. Come to find out through my recovery process, I just never loved or forgave myself. The good news is I have made it back to my family after 4 long years of distancing myself and numbing my pain with drugs. Now I am so thankful and so blessed to have God open my eyes to my family's love once again and show me that I'm worth living for. For a while, they thought they had lost me forever. Anyways, my story is much deeper and sadder than I would like to get into, but what I want to tell you is that I am in recovery and staying strong. I am working a job doing drywall with my brother. I'm thankful for the job and any jobs that get thrown our way, but unfortunately, we still struggle daily. We struggle to pay rent at times as well, which makes it really hard for me to save up for my own vehicle. I finally was able to get my license back and I couldn't want anything more in the world than a vehicle I can call my own again. If I could get help saving for a work truck, that would mean so much to me and also help me find more work here in the city, as I have to pass up on a lot of jobs due to the fact I don't have transportation, and if I'm completely honest, it just makes me want to give up at times. I haven't yet, and I'm still holding strong and praying every day for God to keep me strong and allow me to see how far I have come and show me how much I have to be grateful for. Many of you may not be able to tell by looking at me now that I'm sober, but I was homeless living on the streets for almost 4 years where my addiction took everything from me. I know you may not know me, but I can assure you I'm one of the good ones. I'm very well-mannered and had every opportunity in life; unfortunately, addiction and the devil do not discriminate. But God conquers all, and He is my one true savior because without Him, I wouldn't be where I am today. But I can only ask Him for so much, which is why I'm kindly asking for y'all's kindness and support to possibly help me raise some money so I can get back on my feet again. All I want to do is work more, and with what I'm making, it would take me forever to obtain my goals alone. Anyways, if you would like to help, I would absolutely be forever thankful, and if you can't, I understand completely. If you would like to talk more about the disease of addiction or homelessness or just life struggles in general, I'm always here to talk and listen.

Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read this.

P.S. Please do not leave hate messages as I had a hard enough time writing this while embarrassingly sharing my struggles so openly with strangers.