Man goes from homeless, to helping others beat addiction

BOBBY ARDOIN | SPECIAL TO GANNETT LOUISIANA

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Steven Barnes was a successful Texas home builder who five years ago became a man without a home.

His roof became a stretch of elevated concrete and his closest neighbor an individual who occupied a similar space a few yards away.

Barnes was suddenly living among others like him – a homeless resident of Dallas – devastated, he says, and addicted to whatever harmful substance he could procure.

“Spiritually and mentally I was beyond broken. I was 40 pounds lighter and at this time there was not a long list of things I hadn’t tried. I had been in and out of treatments, one-year or two-year programs.

“My life was living under the bridge. I had my own spot. I had tried another 90-day rehab and that didn’t work and then I was back again where I had been,” Barnes recalls.

He pulls out a picture preserved on his phone and it shows a man huddled near another close by, both lying near a graffiti-sprayed overpass. One of the men frozen in the image, Barnes explains, was him.

“I was living outdoors for I guess about two months. When you’re in that situation a day seems like a month. Your day never seems to end,” he said.

Barnes said his spiral toward oblivion began when he went through a divorce he didn’t want. Gradually he was consumed with guilt and began to encounter a different lifestyle.

“One thing led to another and then I found myself where I had ended up until one day a man stopped by in a car, rolled down the window and gave me $10,” said Barnes.

Barnes took the money and watched as the vehicle pulled away and then made another pass at his hovel alongside side the road.

“The man said he was a preacher and he told me then that God wanted me to come home,” Barnes said.

This time Barnes listened. He remembered providing a testimony proclaiming his faith and returned the $10 to the pastor.

That was over three years ago, April 2015. Barnes now had a ticket and another chance, loaded aboard a bus headed for Opelousas, a name that was unfamiliar, but one he sensed promised hope.

His destination after the eight-hour journey was a bunk at the Opelousas Lighthouse Mission - now The Refinery - a transitional shelter for homeless men.

What Barnes discovered following his arrival was unconditional acceptance by the residents who were living there at the time.

“They didn’t question me or judge or ask about me in anyway. I remember I ate food when I first got here and then I slept. The men who were here let me sleep and I did that. All I did was sleep,” said Barnes.

When he awoke two days later, Barnes met with the resident chaplain and subsequently renewed his relationship with God and asked for forgiveness. I said at the time that something within me had to change and I was willing to do that. I felt forgiven,” he said.

Since then Barnes’ recovery has led to employment with a landscaping business, a local lumber yard and two years ago he started working at the Acadiana Addiction Center, mentoring and counseling men who were just like him.

This past week, Barnes became the program director at The Refinery, where his recovery path began.

Refinery executive director Johnny Carriere said Barnes’ story is important and sends an inspiring message to the other men who first walk through the door.

“We had about 200 applicants when we opened up the position, but the decision to hire (Barnes) came down to his experience in rehabilitation, his work ethic and how far he has come in just a short time. What he has done with his life is inspiring and resembles my own path when I was using and dealing dope.

“His testimonial is powerful and that is supported by his activism and service in the community along with the avenue he chose to take. He is the absolute perfect guy,” Carriere said.

In his position, Barnes will oversee all the programs offered at the 64-bed shelter which includes work readiness and job training and placement for those living at the facility.

“(Barnes) will be responsible for the men ready to take that next step. He is going to help them with the goal setting process and then hold them accountable,” Carriere said.