Jonathan Paul has a good job. And a future. Oh, he’s had other jobs. Lots of them. A future? Not really…until now. It began, he’ll tell you, at Bethlehem Inn.

Jonathan was a lost kid. Addict parents; no food in the house; electricity and water turned off. The streets became his home. Drugs…using, selling. Four prison stays over the years. Evicted and broke, he first found Bethlehem Inn back in 2013. The angry young Jonathan stayed only a few hours. But he came back later and with staff help joined the Heart of Oregon program, stayed with it, earned some money and a school grant. He got clean and sober…for a while. Then, in his words, “I started a moving company, got comfortable and careless.” He started using again. Depressed, broke, fighting with his girlfriend, sleeping in his car, time in county jail. He remembered Bethlehem Inn and went back, desperate enough to look at the Inn with a new pair of eyes. This time, he had “…an awesome relationship” with the staff. He found “…support and a foundation for living.” He’s landed an apprenticeship with the electricians’ union. For now he’s working on a big solar panel project in Prineville. He and his girlfriend are in counseling. He’s clear-eyed, clean, sober. He even laughs now and then. Jonathan Paul is moving, one day at a time, into a future rich with promise.