Andrew describes his childhood as “good…a middle-class house, with middle class problems and middle-class life.” Born in Seattle and raised in Orange County, he had a stable upbringing, but something was missing. His father worked constantly to provide but wasn’t emotionally present. “I learned how to love by giving, rather than actually loving people,” Andrew shares.
“[My father] was never there emotionally for me. He was verbally abusive and would sometimes lose his temper.” Even so, Andrew doesn’t carry bitterness. “I don’t blame my dad at all…he didn’t have the tools. I know he tried his best.” Instead, Andrew recognizes how those early experiences shaped his understanding of love, and how that would later impact his own family.
As an adult, Andrew built a successful life. He graduated high school, attended college, and became an EMT, spending years helping others through crisis and trauma as he grew closer to God, something his grandmother instilled in him growing up. Eventually, he transitioned into a skilled trade, working as a union plumber and even overseeing large projects. Outwardly, life looked stable. But beneath the surface, addiction had taken hold.
After getting clean for nearly a decade, Andrew relapsed. “It was a very selfish choice,” he says. “It led to the destruction of my family…the hurt of my wife and children.”
Everything unraveled. His addiction escalated and eventually, Andrew found himself in jail for 40 days and 40 nights facing the consequences of the life he had been living. That’s where everything began to change.
“I surrendered,” Andrew says. “I said, God, I can’t do this on my own…I need your help.” He explains that this call for help was his greatest challenge.
During his time incarcerated, something shifted deeply within him. “I felt a peace I’ve never known. All my stress and worry and anxiety just washed away.” For the first time, Andrew experienced a sense of calm and clarity that didn’t come from his circumstances, but from faith. When he was given the opportunity to come to Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, Andrew was ready.
Walking through the doors, he already felt transformed. But the Mission became a place where that change could grow. “This place has changed my life,” he says. “If you really want to change your life, you can.”
In the New Life Program, Andrew found structure, support, and a deeper understanding of what it means to live differently. “How to love others and not for me—do it for everyone else,” he says, describing one of the biggest lessons he’s learned.
Today, Andrew serves others daily by working, leading, and giving back within the Mission community. “Now I see myself as a servant,” he shares. “I want to help them. I want to see them succeed.”
Looking back, he’s honest about how close he came to losing everything. “Probably dead,” he says when asked where he might be if he had continued the path he was on before. Instead, today, he can say something very different. “Before coming to the Mission, I was incomplete. And now I feel like I have a purpose.”
Andrew is taking his next steps one day at a time, trusting God with what comes next. His greatest hope is restoration—with his family, and within himself. “To say it and to do it are two different things,” he says. “I want to show that what I say is who I am.”
Today, Andrew is living that out: one choice, one act of service, and one step of faith at a time.
“It’s just all so beautiful, and this place and the people here work so hard to give us so much, and they’ve done so much for me. But mostly, it’s God working through these good, kind people that really make this place special.”