CCS young fathers

Catholic Community Services helps young fathers regain confidence and direction.

“I never thought I’d make it this far.”

A few years ago ‘Levi’ was more concerned with scoring his next fix than spending time with his children ‘Sandy’, ‘Jacob’ and ‘Evan’. Now, with Catholic Community Services’ help, he’s stabilizing his life, preparing to bring his children back home.

Levi describes his childhood as “chaos, complete chaos” and marvels in disbelief at his audacious and dangerous past. To escape his impoverished upbringing, he dropped out of school and turned to dealing, believing that “drugs was a way up and out for me.” Instead, drugs sucked away his aspirations, leaving a vacuous addiction. At Evan’s birth, Levi was afraid that he would hurt his first son just by holding him. “I had to be a Dad,” he recounts. “I just didn’t know how.”

Evan’s arrival spurred his father’s grueling and earnest rehabilitation. Levi’s drug recovery program cleansed him of his addiction, but did little to prepare him for responsible parenting. Grasping for the next step away from his past life, Levi called his friend Art for help.

Art Zamudio, coordinator of CCS’s Young Father’s Program, understood Levi’s situation only too well. Only a few years earlier he’d taken the path Levi now searched for. Art’s personal history, combined with CCS’s resources, provided Levi the understanding and support he needed to catalyze his desire for change into action. “Having Art as a case manager is pretty inspirational,” Levi says. “When I came into treatment I was pretty messed up.”

Levi enrolled in the 12-week program, where he learned the fundamentals of parenting. He also attended separate support group sessions to share successes, voice frustrations, and draw inspiration. Art helped Levi with daily living matters like keeping a stable job, paying rent on time, budgeting, and getting a driver’s license. Now that Levi knows he can succeed in day-to-day living, he is more confident about controlling his life. “Thanks to this program I have options these days,” he says. “I can do things that before I could never do.”

Levi is eager to give back. He knows that those struggling with addiction deserve a second chance. He sees “A lot of guys come [into the program in] one of those hopeless states like me” and wants to inspire and empower them to help themselves.

Your support will help Catholic Community Services to empower more of its clients like Levi to regain control over their lives.