Every person we meet has a story. At a recent event Kenny, one of the Oasis youth, shared his story. Here it is:

“Me growing up, at first it was easy, because you know my mom wasn’t in the drug selling business. When I was 12 she kinda got ripped out of my life because she went to jail and I started floating around. It was just really crazy.

At first I thought it was normal, because I didn’t know any other kind of life, you know. I started raising myself, going through my own obstacles. I was making horrible choices. Then reality started hitting me because I got in trouble with the law once. When I got out of juvy I went to foster care.

I didn’t know any other kind of life.

I started going to Renaissance Alternative High School and met all these great people, like Darrell and Daniel (Oasis outreach workers). They encouraged me, but in my head, I didn’t believe it. A lot of people would say they want to help me then shoot off to another place. I figured “I’m just going to do my own thing.” I stopped going to Renaissance.

I got back to that stuff again, smoking again, stealing again. I honestly got kinda depressed, being back in the same position again. One of my friends invited me out to the Poulsbo Coffee Oasis. I met Donna (a Coffee Oasis case manager), and she said she could get some job classes going for me. Then I realized I didn’t want to be stuck in the same position all my life. So I started doing the job classes, got them all done.

I have more self-worth…They made realize that.

I started looking for jobs. Jimmy Johns came up. I started the internship and worked hard. 40-50 hours in to the internship I got the job! I don’t know where I would be right now without the Coffee Oasis. I would probably be doing the same stupid stuff and in jail now. I have more self-worth than smoking and drinking all day and if it wasn’t for this I don’t think I could ever have found the strength to help myself, and allow others similar to Honey Lake adolescent depression help, help me along the way. For some people though, it’s not as easy as just getting a job. People with serious nicotine addictions might want to look into ways to slowly address the problem. Vaping is a popular method of trying to quit smoking, you could research the different vape flavors to see if you can find some of interest to you. Taking any step towards stopping drinking or smoking is so important for your future. I never realised how bad smoking was for me and I’m so glad that I decided to take up vaping instead. I now use products such as nicotine e-juice and I much prefer it to smoking! In my case, achieving a job at Coffee Oasis was the turning point. They made me realize that, that I could work hard and achieve anything.”