"Born in St. Louis, Ricker experienced extreme trauma at a young age.

“My mom was killed when I was 10. That’s when my dad got us and took us to Arkansas where he lived.” But his father was abusive and went to prison when Ricker was only 14, so he was sent to live in foster care.

Years later, his life took a turn for the worse when he suffered a stroke and began using drugs at the age of 30.

“My son’s mother sold my house and my truck and shut down my bank account. I couldn’t use half of my body because of the stroke, but I had the will to get out of the hospital. I went straight to my sister’s house because I knew she had dope.” Ricker started smoking meth and stayed in that for 10 years. “I was isolated from everyone in the world. I just worked to get high so I wouldn’t feel anything. That was my world.”

Suffering from constant pain due to degenerative disc disease, Ricker was put on painkillers in addition to drugs for anxiety and depression. “I started needing more and more painkillers to the point I didn’t care anymore. I just lost the will to live. That’s when I tried to kill myself.”

“The first time I came through the doors here, I felt a presence,” he remembers. “I didn’t know what it was. I knew there was a God because I had grown up in church, but I had never felt that kind of presence before.”

Besides growing in his faith, Ricker has been able to forgive those who hurt him in the past, including his father and the man who murdered Ricker’s mom. “It was like a shackle that I got released from,” he says. “That’s how it felt, like a shackle had been released. But the best thing I got freed from was the hatred I had for myself.”

“I owe it all to this place. They’ve helped me get my will to live back.”

Today, Ricker helps serve our homeless guests and ministers to them.

“This place has given me motivation, a will to live,” he says. “I don’t want to get high anymore. I want my recovery to work. I’ve also joined a home church, which I’ve never done before. I’m going wholeheartedly. God saved my life, and I just want to help.”

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