BRAINERD — The lakes area community gave Brian Andrews a second chance, and he wants everyone to be able to say the same.
Andrews is the executive director of Lakes Area Restorative Justice Project in Brainerd, a nonprofit that works with first-time juvenile offenders to repair harm their crimes have done in the community and keep their records clean.
Andrews helps give kids a second chance through his work, and it’s a phenomenon he knows all too well. He and his wife, Mandy Miller, pulled themselves up from the lowest of lows after struggling with drug addiction for years, losing custody of their children, being homeless and jobless and never thinking they’d get to where they are today.
“The greatest second chance I’ve ever gotten was being forgiven by Jesus Christ my savior That’s number one,” Andrews said.
But there’s also the landlord who gave the couple a second chance at housing after 30 others said ‘no.’ And there’s the second chance to parent their kids, a second chance at a career and a second chance to show the world that second chances are possible.
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“I’m not a unique story,” he said. “There’s so many people being faced with that, and without a second chance, without society letting us — people like myself — come back in and be productive members of society without all these barriers, we’re stuck in the decisions that we had made up to that point.”
But if Andrews can get clean and have a second chance at life, he believes that with hope and the right path to follow, anyone else can, too.
April is Second Chance Month, a designation made both nationally and locally, with a focus on reaffirming the importance of helping those with criminal backgrounds re-enter society and have a second chance at a better life after paying their debts.
After telling his own story last year , Andrews connected the Dispatch this year with others in the community who are reaping the benefits of second chances and want to help others do the same.
Each Friday this month, the Dispatch e-edition features one of those stories. Jesse Jones , Dawn Powell-Bowman and Joe Derosier shared their heart-wrenching yet hopeful stories of overcoming addiction and getting their lives back on track. Check out brainerddispatch.com or see the Friday e-editions to read their stories.
This Friday’s e-edition will feature Zanna Gray, office manager at Lakes Area Restorative Justice Project, while Candy Kylochko’s story will round out the month April 29.
Andrews and those featured shared resources in the community available to those who are struggling with addiction, including Crow Wing County Social Services, Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge, Lakes Area Alano Association and UpFront Alano Society. The lakes area recovery community is vast and strong for those who are in its midst.
And for anyone who thinks they’re at rock bottom or are struggling to take the first step, Andrews has an important message: “I’d just say that, here’s the deal — for starters, you have worth, and you have value, that you’re important, that you matter to this community, whether you’ve heard it or not, and that I want you to dream the biggest dream you can and know that as you take one foot in front of the other that you can achieve that dream with your second chance.
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“… I want people to be able to dream again — in Crow Wing County, in Minnesota, in our country. And when you have this baggage and you’re dragging around this background behind you, it’s like you’re so busy trying to survive that you can’t even dream. And our second chances for my family have given us the ability to dream again.
“... We get to impact lives today based on some of the hardest experiences of our life. We get to use those to help other people, and I know there’s a lot of people with a lot of experiences that can do the same thing.”
THERESA BOURKE may be reached at
theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com
or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa
.
