This week in WDIO’s Trees of Hope campaign we are featuring the Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge addiction recovery programs.

There are currently 62 men in the Teen Challenge residential recovery program. Every one of them has a story, a history, most often a dark path that led them here.

John Wagner battled addiction for years, going through multiple recovery programs without success. He would go back to using time and time again. Like so many addicts, he eventually ended up in jail after getting a DUI. Teen Challenge is unapologetically a faith-based program and that John says, is what makes all the difference.

“I’ve tried recovery so many different times and without faith I just I kept failing,” John said. “Once I was able to institute that into my life, it just it revolutionized the whole game for me.”

John said he had no idea, but that a group of men from his church pooled their resources, bailed him out of jail and told him about Teen Challenge. He says his life story would likely have ended very badly had he not found his way there.

“It’s meant the world. It’s it’s provided such a such support to me and to the things that I’ve been growing in here. And it’s really been a catalyst for my life to like, I guess you could say, a launching point for the rest of my life.”

John is 11-months into his 13-month long residential recovery program and says he is feeling great. He has a job waiting for him when he completes the program too. To donate, click here.