“I really love what I do and the people I work with and the people we serve.”

Matthew DeLaurel entered the men’s residential addiction recovery at Springs Rescue Mission

Matthew DeLaurel from Colorado Springs, Colorado

Matt grew up feeling like a misfit. He was born in America in 1988 and grew up in England, but he didn’t feel a strong sense of belonging on either side of the Atlantic. “I was never really a part of my dad’s new family, and back in England I always felt like the black sheep,” he said. “Either way, I was the black sheep.”

As a teenager, Matt discovered rave culture — and the drugs that came along with it. He began DJing at parties and finally felt accepted by a community, no matter how hollow. But as the rave days fell away, his addiction only grew.
Matt tried to clean up when he moved to Colorado at age 21. He went to school, started a family, and worked at a car dealership. But soon he was addicted to meth, and his hope for a good life was slipping away. After suffering Bells Palsy from meth use and losing his job, Matt became homeless and depressed.

“My roommate told me I had to be out in three days. … I got my stuff together and got dropped off in Colorado Springs. I pawned off almost everything I owned and used that money to get a hotel for four days. I spent that time researching and reading about how to be homeless: where to stay, how to find food, where to go to get a job, how to get out of this. I wanted to get back on my feet, but I just didn’t know what to do anymore.”

After a year of not knowing what the next day would hold, DeLaurel found a better way out. “I was able to muster enough of, I don’t want to be here, I need to get sober, I need to get back to life, I need to get back to my kids,” he said.

Matt found The Springs Rescue Mission. “I don’t know why I said yes, but I said yes. I had a billion reasons as to why I shouldn’t do this,” he said. Not only was he given a place to sleep, but a chance at a new life (a men’s residential addiction recovery program).

“We are going to do everything we can to meet people where they are at and provide them a pathway out,” said Travis Williams, Springs Rescue Mission. The Mission is a low barrier, come as you are sheltered. Its growing mission is to help transform the lives of those who struggle. They meet individuals at any stage of their lives and guide them every step of the way.

“This is a place that provides dignity and hope, dignity and hope for individuals who desperately need it,” said Williams.

In May of 2020, DeLaurel graduated from a 15-month long rehab program at the mission. He says he is a new man today and believes if it weren’t for The Mission, he would still be on the streets today. “I don’t ignore the past because the past is important. I still have bills to pay from when I was homeless. I still have relationships to mend,” he said.

However, it didn’t take long for him to return to the mission. This time it was for a different reason. Matt was hired on as a chef for the mission’s catering business. It’s a job Matt says he felt called to do.

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