PORTLAND, Maine — "When I was 25, my mom had passed away in a car accident."
For Adrienne Rush, the grief and the pain of losing her mother are feelings that are all too familiar.
"My dad had already passed away when I was 18."
The weight of having to bury both parents was too heavy. Then her only sibling went missing and hasn't been found.
She became addicted to heroin and had no place to call home.
"I liked living on the streets because I didn't have to have any bills or any responsibility. I didn't want to deal with anything that I was dealing with," Rush explained.
In her darkness, one thing became clear, and it was the thought that would turn her life around.
"I'm either going to end up in jail or dead," she said. "I needed to change."
And with that, Adrienne found the support her life depended on in a place she didn't expect.
"It's like I remember it bits and pieces," she said. "And I was really rude to the staff."
She was released from jail and then she says she was kicked out of a recovery center. That's when she found herself at Amistad.
Originally, Adrienne was there because she had to be.
Now she works with Amistad because she wants to be.
She now lends the support she needed to survive by delivering meals and as a mentor.
"I think it's a very human connection that happens," said Brian Townsend, the executive director of Amistad.
He says Amistad is a peer support -based agency in Portland that helps people struggling with anything from addiction, to homelessness and food insecurity.
"And we do it from a platform of really trying to support folks while empowering people who have a lived experience of those issues to be the conductors of the work," he said.
"It's just a good feeling to help people and it's different that I know the majority of them," said Adrienne Rush. "They're telling me I'm an inspiration and they look up to me because if I can turn my life around they can."
It's funded by the United Way which needs your help now more than ever.
"We assure you that your dollars will go where they are needed most to make the long-lasting important change that our community needs," said Liz Cotter Schlax, United Way of Greater Portland President and CEO.
A long-lasting important change Adrienne discovered when she found a family -- even when she thought she had none.
Adrienne said if her parents were alive today they would be proud of her and the work she is doing.
