Pops was one a bringer of death and destruction. He was a heroin addict for more than 50 years and OD’d more than four times. He was a drug dealer, a bank robber, and was considered to be so dangerous that gang members named him “El Diabo” or the Devil.
Some of the people he sold drugs to even died from those drugs.
“I had no respect for life or anybody’s life,” Pops told Mission Rescue. “I was an animal out there.”
Not only did he destroy the lives of others, but his addiction caused him to destroy his own life.
“I met my wife in 1968,” he said. “She had joy. She sparkled and laughed easily. She was everything I wanted in a woman. I adopted her two sons and we had two daughters of our own together. But I couldn’t stay clean.”
He eventually walked out on his family and regretted it every day of his life, but he couldn’t find his way back to them because of his addiction.
Now Pops is a bringer of love and hope. One day Pops said that God told him to walk into one of Union Rescue Mission’s facilities and ask to be enrolled in their drug rehabilitation treatment. After that, he never looked back.
He said the love and grace that was shown to him at the Union Rescue Mission carried him through addiction and into sobriety.
Union Rescue Mission is a nonprofit organization that provides charity in accordance with Jesus Christ’s teachings since 1893. Their efforts aim to end homelessness and raise people up.
“They give me a lot of love and I’ve never experienced that before,” Pops explains.
Pops got clean and now works at Union Rescue Mission handing out clothing and toiletries to the homeless, drug addicts, and others who were once in his shoes. He now councils others and inspires them to turn their lives around.
“A lot of people that know me, it gives them hope because I was one of the worst ones out there,” Pops said. “Most people who come in here are at the bottom of the barrel and I tell them I climbed out from underneath the barrel. I walked through that door and was just about as close to death as you can get. If I can do this program, there’s no reason anyone else can’t do this program.”
Being able to help others brings immense joy and purpose to Pops’ life and offers him a chance at redemption.
He revels in seeing the gratitude on people’s faces when he can give them a warm jacket or some toothpaste.
“It don’t take much to make somebody whose got nothing happy,” he explains. “My blessing comes from them. That’s what makes my day for me. I want to be remembered as a man of God who helped people.”
In addition to counseling addicts and working at Union Mission Rescue, Pops has also gotten the chance to reunite with his children after 30 years.
“Now that I’ve got my family, how can I lose, man?” Pops says. “I’ve got life now. I’ve got life — and more abundantly.”
You can learn more about Union Rescue Mission at urm.org and about Pops in the video below.
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