Actions

SECOND CHANCES: Addicts find recovery through building affordable homes

By: Stef Manchen

Posted

and last updated

TULSA, Okla. — A partnership between Prime Craftsman Homes and the Hope Center of Tulsa is creating second chances by building four walls.

“A second chance at life and a last chance," said Hope Center resident David MeGehee. "I know that if you don’t get it together now, you’ll never get it together.”

MeGehee is almost eight months sober, after a year-long battle with addiction. His struggles were born out of tragedy.

“My daughter was killed. I was tired of life, didn’t want to live no more," he said.

SECOND CHANCES: Addicts find recovery through building affordable homes

For his new clean chapter, MeGhee gives all credit to God, whom he met through the Hope Center.

It's a 12-month, three-phase recovery program focused on healing and strengthening one's connection to their faith. He is about halfway through the Hope Center program.

“I would never look back and go the other way ever again," said MeGehee. "My eyes are focused on the lord, and I’m where I want to be in my recovery.”

In Phase 2, the men are asked to do some vocational training to prepare to return to the world after addiction.

For MeGehee, that means he spends 40 hours a week with Prime Craftsman Homes, building affordable housing for Green Country.

With a background in construction, MeGhee is painting and helping direct the rest of the crew — using his second chance to build that same opportunity for neighbors he doesn't even know.

“I’ve been there, I was homeless for like three years before I came to the men’s hope center so I know what it’s like to sleep underneath a bridge," he said. "What they do here is a blessing.... God is using me as his hands and his feet as a vessel to turn around and go back out there and help the community.”

With a dedicated six months under his belt, MeGehee is hopeful his family will see he's cleaning up his act and find a way to forgive his past.

“I know God has put it in the mix and the works, so if my daughter sees this or my two sons David and Michael or Kelsey marie, which are my kids, I love y'all and I hope to see y'all one of these days," he said.