Jake grew up in a broken home with very little contact with his father. When his mother remarried, addiction entered the home, and the instability that followed shaped much of his early life.

Jake had "always known about God," but addiction ended up taking hold of his life too. At 21, while visiting family in Idaho, his grandfather—a preacher involved in prison ministry—gave him his first leather-bound Bible and prayed over him. "The power of God's spirit engulfed me like a gentle calm that I had never felt before."

In time, Jake got married and put drinking aside for several years as he and his wife raised three daughters and a son. But when life became difficult, addiction returned-first alcohol, then other forms of drugs. He tried to overcome it on his own, but it slowly took control.

"Eventually, my marriage ended," Jake says. "Addiction took everything from me."

Jake was living on the streets of Spokane when he severely injured his foot. "They wanted to amputate it, but I wouldn't let them." After several surgeries and three months in the hospital, he was released—grateful to still have his foot, but with nowhere to go.

"I wanted to do something with my life," he says. "I had nothing to look forward to."

When Jake heard about a recovery program at the CAC, he reached out to the director, who invited him to come right away.

"That's where I found a bed, meals and reconnected with Jesus."

Jake later joined the recovery program and began rebuilding his life. "The Rebuilders Program has given me the tools to turn my life around," he says. "It has also given me love and compassion to want to help others change theirs as well."

Because of CAC, Jake looks ahead with renewed hope. He believes the new shelter offers "unity, hope, and the opportunity to move forward with the blessings the Lord has provided."