Collaborative Effort Sees Success Moving Men Off New Orleans Streets
For a few hours every Wednesday, two Corps Mission Associates with The Salvation Army of Greater New Orleans Command take the Army’s Community Coffee Disaster Response Unit (DRU) to downtown locations to provide lunch to unhoused individuals. While they feed those who are hungry, quietly behind the scenes, Chris Rogers, a recent graduate of The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC), engages in conversation with men to get them off the streets and into the ARC. And if anyone can convince these men that a turnaround is attainable, it’s Chris.
To see Chris now, compared to when he first arrived at the ARC, is nothing less than astounding. Today, the clean-cut, casually, yet impeccably dressed Chris admits, “I am a completely different man than I was just a few short months ago. I have no idea what would have happened if I had not found the ARC and, equally as important, my faith.”
Chris’s struggle with substance abuse began in 2018 following a work accident that caused severe pain; the ongoing pain and the medication he was taking then led to PTSD. When nothing seemed to ease the agony, Chris turned to drugs and alcohol to fill the gap. Unemployed, with a failing marriage and distant children, he wandered the streets, slept under the interstate, and eventually was admitted into a hospital. Chris confesses he wanted to ‘check out,’ but in a clearer moment, he realized what he was longing for was long-term, Christian-centered holistic rehabilitation, and that’s when he turned to The Salvation Army and its ARC program.
Major Donald Tekautz operates the all-male rehab program, and when he talks about Chris Rogers, his face lights up, not only because of Chris’s accomplishment in battling addiction but also his ongoing ministry in the street. “When I came here last year, we only had 24 residents; today, we have more than 50 men in our program with the capacity to add another 10 to 15 residents. Our mission is to give men the means to turn around their lives; all they need to do is have faith in themselves and the Lord and the desire to change their lives,” Major Tekautz notes.
Another vital thing is time. Many rehab programs are 30 days or less, but as Major Tekautz emphasizes, success does not come overnight. That’s why the ARC program is six months, and the entire program is generally free to participants. The men who enter the ARC live in dormitory-style quarters and are served all meals. During the day, they are in a work therapy program, which involves processing donations or working at The Salvation Army Family Thrift Store. Evenings include AA meetings and other programs that offer spiritual, emotional, and social assistance to combine all that’s learned in a sober and stable life. After six months, if a resident has met all his goals, he can remain living at the ARC for a short time if he’s employed, or he can transition into independent living.
And that’s where the New Orleans Command comes back into the picture. Major Ed Binnix oversees the Command, including its Center of Hope, which sits a few miles away from the ARC along Claiborne Ave. The center can house up to 270 men, women, and children nightly. While the two majors talk often, other than DRU weekly outings, there’s usually little interaction between the two commands. Still, now there’s the discussion of setting aside space in the Center of Hope that will serve as transitional housing for ARC graduates who need more time to become financially independent.
“These men have devoted six months or more of their lives to accomplish lasting change,” comments Major Binnix, who notes that while the Center of Hope doesn’t have a structured rehab program, “we can certainly provide temporary housing to give them more time to get on their feet. We know by serving many families and singles daily that housing costs are the number one barrier to independent living.”
“This collaboration with the Center of Hope would be a huge benefit,” says Major Tekautz, and it’s certainly a cooperative effort both he and Major Binnix hope to officially launch in 2024. Until then, the two commands will continue to hit the streets each Wednesday to not only feed those who are hungry but continue to talk to those who are open to finally making some changes in their life, whether it is men entering the ARC program, or other men and women turning to the Center of Hope for temporary housing and social service assistance.