EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another in a series of articles on the Peninsula Home Fund. Please click on the Home Fund button at left to print out a coupon to include with your donation.
PORT ANGELES – Brandon Fraker used drugs and had been in and out of correctional institutions since he was 15.
“The last time in, I realized I couldn’t do this anymore,” says Brandon, now 20.
Drugs had killed his best friend, alienated him from his family – and when he wasn’t in jail, he was on the streets, homeless.
“While in jail, I got the chance to get help if I stayed off drugs – and I took it,” says Fraker, who continues to attend rehabilitation programs.
With pride in his voice he says, “I’ve been clean for nine months now.”
And he’s working now – as a carpet layer, a job he obtained though Pathways to Employment, part of Clallam County’s Work First program.
When he didn’t have the money to pay for the specialty clothing required by the employer – work shoes and heavy-duty pants with reinforced knees – the Peninsula Daily News’ “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund stepped in to help.
He says changing his former way of life hasn’t been easy, but having the support and encouragement of so many people has boosted his confidence and helped him try harder.
According to his caseworker at OlyCAP – Olympic Community Action Programs – Brandon is serious about changing his life for the better.
Now, when he runs across others that are looking for a way out of a drug-ridden life he tells them, “There’s help available if you want it – I’m proof of that.”
“It’s the little things that mean so much,” says his girl friend, Lindsey Mosher.
She says they’ve known each other for two years.
Brandon had wanted to further their relationship – but she stepped back, deciding to wait to see if he’d decide to “grow up and start to be a man.”
They’ve been a couple for three months now – after he’d proven to her over time that he really had changed his life.
They’re talking about marriage and, later, having a family together.
“We want to do things the right way, and that’s one step at a time,” says Fraker.
