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Camillus House News
Mary Etta - By the grace of God
March 31, 2009
by Maureen Fries
Mary Etta has a passion for life that lights up her face when she speaks. It’s as contagious as her hearty laugh, which easily becomes part of the conversation as she talks candidly about her life – past and present. The future, while full of promise, remains a one-day-at-a-time endeavor.
A 7-year resident at the Somerville Residence housing program, built and run by Camillus House in Miami, Mary talks excitedly about her involvement with AA, her job as shift manager at McDonald’s, and her quest for her Bachelors degree in psychology from Florida International University. Her goal? Give freely to others what was so freely given to her. “I have a passion to work with teens, to help them before they’re 39 and need a program.” And, she admits, none of it would have been possible without the grace of God and Camillus House. “If I can do it, anybody can do it. I tell ya, I was the lowest of lows, I was rock bottom. I had a lot of stuff I had to go through to get where I am today. And I’m grateful.”
Today, Mary is healthy, despite a heart attack after Christmas and knee replacement surgery in October. She is happy and living life on Recovery Road.
But finding that road has not been an easy journey.
Laughing, she says she was born with a curiosity. “I was born with a willingness to not listen to anybody. Thought I was going to be independent.” At 15 she moved down from Illinois to Hollywood with her older sister Pam. “I got a job, went to school. My senior year I dropped out of school and got my GED. I thought I was all that, not willing to listen to anyone. Hard headed and I wanted to do things my way.”
Her way led Mary down a long, dark path of life on the streets filled with drugs and prostitution. If someone or something looked to hold excitement, Mary wanted to be part of it. But that excitement took its toll on her and after almost 20 years, Mary realized she wanted a different life. “I wasn’t getting anywhere. I always had this mindset that, okay, I’m gonna die… But I wanted a different way of life. I had to change, I wanted to change.”
It seems that the passion and zest for adventure, which had gotten Mary into trouble, suddenly became the catalyst that helped her out of it. When she moved into Somerville seven years ago, she was attending Miami Dade College, where she graduated with an Associate’s Degree in 2006. She proudly shows off her cap and gown in a frame which hangs on the wall of her small, but cheery apartment, which is full of Mary’s ‘new’ life – computer, TV, bed, dresser, clothes, school books, DVDs, posters and pictures.
Looking around her small, humble home, Mary is quick to credit Somerville’s resources for her recovery: the outreach programs for adults as well as children, help with student loan forms, life, health and money management programs, including how to dress and act appropriately and present oneself at a job interview; nutritional classes, exercise classes, and tutoring. According to Mary, Somerville has the resources for anyone who wants to take advantage of them. “You can go into a program and be complacent and say, oh well I gotta job and a roof over my head. But if you’re not trying to move forward in some way in life, you just stay the same. There’s not much change.”
Seeking to find a better life eventually brought Mary to Somerville and Camillus House. “I’ll tell you what Camillus House did for me. I had to do some hours of community service and I went down and helped at the shelter. And I learned a lot over there. Like how good it is to just help people. Camillus House has been really good.”
Over the years, she has referred people to Camillus House or other organizations that she knew could help them. Does she consider herself an ambassador of sorts for Camillus House? “I suppose so”, she laughed.
While her life’s journey has not been an easy one, Mary is quick to point out that, over time, it does get easier to live life cleanly. “It’s easier to stay sober than it is to get sober. I had to want it more than life itself. And with a lot of people praying, a lot of people just being supportive of me, I’m doing it.”
