Robert's Story

I was born February 16, 1955 in Atlanta, Georgia. I lived in Atlanta until I was 18 years old, at which time I enlisted in the U.S. army. I attended training at Fort Jackson, south Carolina. While in the army I served at Fort Campbell, Fort Benning, Korea, Germany, and Hawaii. In the army I attended the University of Maryland Adult Education Program and was commissioned as a second Lieutenant through the army's OCS program. I was honorably discharged in 1985 at the rank of Captain.

After leaving the army I stayed in Washing D.C. working various jobs, including construction. That is when I began using crack cocaine. I became homeless in 1990, I finally made a decision to change my life and enrolled in Victory Outreach, a Christian program for drug addiction.

Once completing the program, I returned to Atlanta where I pursued construction work again. but within six months I was homeless again and using alcohol and crack. Again I got sick of being this way, but this time I called 911 and told them I had a drug problem and wanted help. They gave me a list of churches and the number for Fulton County Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. I went to Fulton County Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center, but they had no beds available at that time, I slept outside in their front parking lot until I was accepted. I completed their 30 day program and attended St. Jude's, eventually completing two years of aftercare with them. I stayed there, in a halfway house for nine and a half months, it was there that I got interested in the twelve step program suggested by Alcoholics Anonymous and began to learn all that I could.

I met Dante, a recovering substance abuser, and he became my sponsor, he taught me on a personal basis the first 164 pages of the big Book of Alcoholic's Anonymous paragraph by paragraph. Inside the Big Book of AA is where you'll find the twelve step program of recovery. I came to the revelation that I had a disease which is two-fold, the mental obsession and the phenomenal craving. This is found in step one. Once I realized the problem, I wanted the solution. I wanted more than anything to change my life. I found out that changing my life required more than just knowing it, it meant I had to do some work. I wanted a good job, my family back and more importantly I had a strong desire to help others help themselves, I wanted to teach them the things that eventually helped me. I recognize that there are many people in AA and NA who have these same desires once they become sober, but for me it meant action. I began to teach the twelve steps and the big book, line by line, the same way I'd been taught. Since that time, I've seen people changed from the inside, families restored, and become productive members of our society again.

To prepare myself for helping others I attended Morehouse School of Medicine CORK Institute, a two-week intensive substance abuse counseling training program. After I finished CORK, I did six months in substance abuse counseling as an intern at Jefferson Place Transitional house (a 2 year program). During this period I was going to NA and AA daily and taking group counseling and therapy classes.

Three years I managed Goodwill stores in Atlanta, GA. In 1991 I met Tim, founder of the Saint Benedict's Society, at a downtown facility called The Cup, an AA meeting place for the homeless. We became friends, and I volunteered at the cup for more than a year. Finally, Tim, who knew I was managing the Goodwill stores, asked if I would help start a second hand store that would hire homeless people coming of substance abuse. I wanted to do this because Goodwill hires the handicapped, but not necessarily substance abusers. So, in 1994, Tim provided the initial financing and incorporated the non-profit St Benedict's Society. I, and the woman who would eventually become my wife, and two other homeless people opened up the Saint Benedict's Society Thrift Store. We made our own salaries, normally what ever was left after expenses, we hired our own help, we obtained used vans, and we promoted community donations via phone calls and flyers.

Since my becoming sober I met and married Martha, my partner in the thrift store. Even though she is not a recovering substance abuser, she is as committed to helping the homeless as I am. She is willing to help me in the efforts I'm making and has become a central part of my plans for helping the homeless population, and with out a doubt, I can honestly say she has been my primary inspiration when times were really hard in the beginning.

Despite the success of the St. Benedict's Thrift Store, Tim decided in 1996 to pursue other directions. Martha and I decided to start a new non-profit organization and continue the Thrift Store operations and the 12-step program we were involved with. The new organization became the Atlanta Step-Up Society - named for our commitment to give people a "hand-up" not a "hand-out".

Since 1996, my wife and I have assumed personal loans on three houses and turned them into the Atlanta Step-Up Men's Residential Homes. We put all our personal savings into buying and renovating these homes. Our objective was to continue carrying the message of self-help to homeless men throughout the city of Atlanta by offering them a descent place to live and teaching the Big Book.

The homes are completely furnished, each room has a bed, dresser, and closet space, we provide clothing if necessary. There is one communal bathroom, a kitchen, living room / meeting room. The men are expected to provide for there own meals, and they can cook in the kitchen on the premises, It's a home like environment. The men abide by strict rules such as no company after 11 pm, sharing the responsibility of cleaning up, no female company unless there door is open during the visit, and definitely no substance abuse. Having been a long-time abuser myself, I personally monitor and observe the men carefully on a daily basis.

We do random drug tests on a regular basis. We have a house manager with two years of sobriety who has completed the two year Jefferson Place Transitional House Program in Atlanta.

We have regular AA meetings two nights a week. The men must work to stay in the home, but we do help them at finding a job. Our future goals are to have a certified drug addiction counselor available. We want a counseling core that would deal with nutrition, jobs, budgeting and other daily living skills that are essential to the men who live with us.

I strive each day hoping that with my desire and dream, I am making a dent in the homeless problem that the city faces. the way it works in Step-Up Homes is that once a homeless man changes from the inside he's to turn around and help another homeless person. That is our goal, not just to help one but many homeless people.

Through my experiences on the long road to recovery and my training and experiences working with other abusers, I believe I have developed an effective teaching style and philosophy to help people overcome helplessness and hopelessness. In addition to my regular 12-step teaching at Step-Up, I also work with several other recovery groups, and recently chosen to serve as a drug and alcohol counselor for St. Jude's Recovery Center, I've also been asked to provide counseling in Atlanta Public Schools.

Robert Gregory Barber