After we got the house I knew that we needed a person to run the house and I felt that God would send us the person. While I was at the Triangle Club (A club for Alcoholics to go to in the neighborhood), a man walked in the door. It was Gerald Brooks. Gerald was a friend of mine that I had known for about 5 years and he had 10 years of sobriety at the time that he lived here in West Palm Beach. He moved to Alabama about 2 years before. He looked terrible. He stood about 6'2" tall, skinny and pale and needed a haircut and a shave. I have always been known to tell someone what I feel and I said "hello Gerald, you look terrible. When did you get back?".He looked at me with a little tear in his eye and said that he got back that last night. This was on September 20, 1988. His exact words were, "My dad died. I totaled my new truck after getting drunk and I felt that I needed to come back her to GET INVOLVED."

I heard that and I had to talk to him. I bought him a cup of coffee and a hamburger and fries and started to talk. I asked him 6 little words, "Gerald, you want to Get Involved?". He said yes and I started to tell him about what God was doing in my life. I told him about this old house that I had and it needed a lot of work. Gerald was one of those guys that could do anything. He also knew about my dream of starting a home for alcoholics and he always supported the idea. He just said, "You finally did it?". I just smiled. I just said that God climbed into my pea brain and wouldn't let me go. He said that he would love to do something like that. This really excited me and I was talking a mile a minute. Gerald said that he wanted to see the house and I let him finish his food and we went to the house. As we walked into the house, I said the same works that I said when I walked in it just 5 days earlier. "This is beautiful." I started to get the same feelings that I had with Buck and was taking Gerald on the same tour that Buck and I took almost a week ago. Here are some inserts from that story.

The words that came out of my mouth really confused Buck. All I said was "This is Beautiful". I started to tell Buck what I saw. I saw a home that was located 4 blocks from the Triangle Club, a AA meeting place that met everyday at noon and 8:30 P.M. There was a Publix supermarket a mile and a half away and the bus line was half a block away.

We walked upstairs and saw that the crackers used the upstairs for the human waste department of the house. I call crack users crackers. We tiptoed around the rooms and the aroma was enough to get you sick. We then proceeded to go back down stairs and by forcing the door open we found ourselves out in the backyard.

The back yard was all grown up with weeds and real low hanging branches. The yard was full with the inside materials, like the tubs, that came out of the house. There was stoves, hat water heaters, furniture and anything that came from the crackers tearing out walls to get the copper out to sell for money to buy crack. The walls and wood working that was torn out of the house and glass from the windows. It was like there was someone already starting to demolish the OLE hose. It was just the crackers tearing the house down.

I walked out in the back yard and was so excited again. I told Buck and I quote, "Look Buck. We will be able to have a BBQ pit out here and a patio. Look, we can have horse shoes and a volley ball court.

We got to the back yard and I told Gerald about the horseshoe game and BBQ pit with patio and volleyball net. You could see a light in his eyes that could guide a tanker in from the sea. I asked him if he wanted to be my manager and he said, yes. He was so excited. This was a different man I was talking to just one hour before. Something had got inside him. I felt that I knew what and who it was. God. I asked Gerald if he wanted to stay at the house and protect the windows that were still in one piece and keep crackers out of the house and he said, yes.

I want you to realize that this house was ready to be torn down by the city. It had no water, plumbing or electricity. It did have pretty big rats though, to keep a person company. I asked him if he was sure and he said, yes. He asked me if I would give him a ride to pick up his clothes and I said, yes. I asked him where we were going and he just said to go to 95 and Palm Beach Blvd and go south on 95. I followed his instructions and started to go south on 95. When we got to Okeechobee Blvd. exit west, he asked me to pull off on the shoulder of the road. When I did \, Gerald got out of the car and walked over to the bushes next to the fence and picked up his bag of clothes. You see, this is what alcohol does to the alcoholics. It causes us to loose everything, again.

When he got back into the truck that I had, I asked him if that was where he was staying and he said, yes. He told me that he sure wasn't going to live in the city on the streets. The crackers would kill him. That was a smart statement because at the time, the streets were not safe. Gad has just placed one of his people into the house that he has chosen to help people learn to live clean and sober.

Now we have a home for the alcoholic and drug addicts that want to help themselves and the angel that God has chosen to run the house. This has taken less than a week. Now to get started on the work in the house. Gerald and I was talking in front of the house the next day and I was sharing with him the thought that I had. I was telling him why our kind of house is needed and he could understand it. I told him that the insurance was going to get tired of paying that outrageous cost of treatment and they would stop paying for it. Then our type of house will be needed. He wanted to ask me a question and I said, go ahead. He asked, "What are we going to call the house?". I just said that sounds great. He looked puzzled and asked, "What sounded great?". I asked him if the had remembered my dad. Dad had used him early in his recovery and he said, yes. I told him the dad always said keep it simple. He always named his dog, Dog and his cat, Cat. We will call the house, The House. The House was what it was called for a long time.

Gerald went around the neighborhood finding things that would be used in the house to make it better. One of those items was a three legged armchair that he placed in the living room and in front of the door. He would wait there every morning for me to come and give him the thought for the day. I would bring him a cup of coffee and a paper. We had a joke that got around the community that Gerald would nail the doors shut on the outside so he couldn't get out. Gerald had the patience of Job. He would sit there every day waiting for God to bring us money to work on the house. He knew that I had no money and I sure wasn't going to ask Buck for money to spend on the project. I knew that it would mess up a friendship that had been going on for 8 years and money will do that. I felt that Buck pulled away from the project after I told him that we had the house. I knew that God would provide. Gerald had faith in my faith at first. He gained in the faith in God later on.

It was about one week after Gerald came with us the city decided to red tag the property and we all knew what that meant. We was going to have to spend money to fix up the house and it was going to amount to a lot. Buck started to see that there was going to be a lot of money to be spent and he lost the faith. He didn't leave the city, county or even the state. He left the country. Gerald came to me the day after Buck left and asked me what we were going to do. You see, Gerald knew that Buck had the money. I just told him that I knew that Buck left and that we was going to Do it. I also told him that God didn't start me thinking like this to forget it the first time a disaster happened. Gerald just said, "Oh, OK Gary.".

It took us about two months to get the house ready for people and I did my tree work and other jobs in the neighborhood to get the money to fix up the old hose. We got a plumber to run the water and we put the sinks, tub and hot water heater in. The plumber let us pay it on time. We furnished the house with used furniture that people let us have. We had to pay them on time too. The place was looking like a home in no time.

We had our first Thanksgiving in our home in 1988. When God puts his mind to it, He can really get things done. You can't beat the power of prayer. This is just a little of how God provided the people that started Born Anew Corporation. There are so many more stories that could be told about the power that God has here. We have so many people that were touched by God in this home. I pray that God helps me to get the stories to you. Thank you for reading this short story and please find it in your heart to talk to God and make an investment to this organization. You will become part of "People Helping People".

Thank you very much,

Gary Lee McGarity
Founder of Born Anew Corporation