Douglas Beedles was on pins and needles like most parents preparing to watch their kids become high schoolers this year.

Would he look the part and find the right clothes to wear? Would he know what to say and how to act as a proud dad? Would he be on time? Or would he fall short again?

Unlike most parents attending eighth-grade graduation that day in Kitsap County, Beedles’ trip to see his daughter’s next step in her academic life was the latest stepping stone for him in a ruthless fight against drug addiction and another step away from the “cutthroat” conditions of several past and present homeless encampments.

Less than two years ago, the addiction and related consequences prompted his ex-wife to file for a protection order.

Now, with the help of a Port Orchard-based resource for the homeless and a renewed sense of faith-driven willpower, his phone screensaver is a picture of himself standing next to his newly graduated daughter. “I didn’t see this ever coming back to me until very recently. I had to realize that there is a chance, and realizing that I was the problem helped.”

Next generation of addiction

His childhood was innocent enough but was cut short by death and addictions. His mother died at just 48 years old from a heart attack brought on by years of alcohol abuse. His dad would die just three years later at 63 from emphysema, and he and his younger brother would be shipped off to the custody of his older sibling, a Navy man.

The two were left with more than their fair share of free time, and not knowing any better, Beedles found himself walking through the gates of addiction.

“Methamphetamine addiction right away,” he said, being 16 at the time. “A friend introduced it to me because I wasn’t feeling good. Once I got introduced to it, I was hooked.”

Straying away from the first few years of his history with drugs, he then recalled his permanent move to the Kitsap area when he was 21. It did not take long for him to find his next supplier or for local law enforcement to find out about it. Possession with intent began his legal troubles here, and as detailed in case files dating back to 1999, they continued to follow him.

“Once I was out, I tried to go on the straight and narrow, doing my probation and everything. I just made mistakes, and I did some more drugs.”

And he did some more, a common theme that would follow him from one relationship to another. He had a son, who is now 28, with one of his partners before she left him because of the drug usage.

Then came what he calls the first time the church saved him. “It was in 2002,” he recalled. “Body of Christ Church around Seattle picked me up in Mason County where I was homeless because a friend that I had stayed the night with basically saw I was killing myself and didn’t like it.”

Beedles would spend the next 2 1/2 years in Seattle going through a discipleship program, and not long after he left, found the woman who would become his wife and mother of his two daughters. Yet, he fell again. Beedles was content to keep it a secret until his wife’s discovery that he was further along in his addiction than either of them had thought. “Every secret comes to light in the process of time. She didn’t divorce me then but seeing counselors and trying to get me into treatment took a toll on our relationship. My daughters were seeing a side of me that I didn’t really like.”

Pickup truck

Meanwhile, Heather Velez and her husband Cisco were still getting used to their newfound mission to help the homeless when they found Beeldes, who in the midst of a downward spiral set on by his divorce, was living on the streets of Port Orchard near HiJoy Bowl. It was a time well before the bright red Mercy Mobile van made them easily identifiable as friendlies to the homeless, meaning the first couple of months seeing Beedles and others was above all a mission to build trust.

“There was a lot of distrust in what we were doing from people on the streets. It wasn’t that they distrusted us as human beings but that they distrusted the process. Why are you here? Who are you?”

Trust was a rarity among the homeless and their camps, especially for those using on a regular basis. Beedles called it like he saw it, describing living as a homeless man in Port Orchard as down in the dumps and all-out cutthroat. Drugs would make their way into the camps from active users but also from people Beedles believed would squeeze any value away from the addicted men and women.

“I just know that there’s a group of people out there that may or may not be homeless that are getting rich off the homeless,” he said. “They’re abusing the homeless.”

Somehow still clinging to life and having survived the horrors of homelessness that once included waking up to someone attempting to rape him, a switch flicked in his mind.

“Doug came to us,” Velez said, and he entered treatment once again. “I do remember when his treatment was over, and he had a place to go but it was not a safe environment for him. He came to the church, and through the grace of God, we were able to get ahold of somebody to get him into housing immediately.”

That was approximately 13 months ago, and Beedles’ condition looks as good as he’s seen it in years. Though permanent esophagus damage and other health concerns will follow him for the rest of his life, he could finally say, “I feel healthy. I feel great,” after one year removed from treatment.

Velez called it just one of the young service provider’s growing number of success stories, and Beedles uses some of his nights continuing to provide assistance to Mercy Mobile. “We try to stay humble, but stories like this give us the incentive to keep going. On those flights whether things are heavy and you see an overdose, having that positive attitude about it keeps you motivated,” Velez said.

Watching one of his daughters become a ninth-grader is far from the end of his battle with addiction. His path has just begun with attempting to repair his broken marital and father-daughter relationships, and as all former addicts know, his demons will never rest until he is back on the streets. While the fight never ends, Beedles is praying that he will never have to spend another night without a roof over his head.