When Tonya Taylor climbed into a dumpster behind a Russellville grocery store three years ago, she knew her life had hit rock bottom.
Taylor was starving, though, so she put away what was left of her pride and began rummaging through the refuse, looking for something safe to eat.
That moment, beyond all others during her three years of living homeless in Russellville, sticks with her the most.
From 2017-20, Taylor lived on the streets with the daily goal of scrounging up enough money to score her daily fix of methamphetamine.
For a young woman in her early 40s, it doesn't sound like much of a life, and it wasn't.
“What stuck out at me the most during my addiction was the very first time I had to go climb into a dumpster for food,” Taylor said. “I was literally starving and didn't have anything to eat. I remember that day and thinking, 'Really? I've resorted to this?'”
Through what both women call a God encounter (not a chance encounter), Taylor met Betsy Green on a rainy day in February 2020, and that meeting changed both women's lives.
Green and her husband created the Russellville Coalition, a branch of their Free to Praise ministry, to provide tools to the city's growing homeless population and help them improve their life situations.
Green first heard about Taylor from a worker at the Russellville Public Library in 2019, and she was impressed by the Lord to find Taylor. She looked for Taylor more than a year with no success.
The homeless have a way of staying invisible in a community, particularly if they don't want to be found.
“When we met, I learned she had been looking for me for a year-and-a-half,” Taylor said. “If Betsy had found me when she started looking, I wasn't ready for help at that time. And if an addict isn't ready for help, no treatment or assistance will succeed.”
After the few possessions she had were stolen the previous night, Taylor was walking that February morning to a friend's house. That friend had loaned Taylor a tablet, so she wanted to tell him in person what had happened.
He wasn't home, so Taylor noticed a gravel road and decided to follow it. She reached the end of that road as it connected into Underwood Road and saw a vehicle leaving a driveway headed toward town.
As Green pulled out of her driveway, she noticed someone walking in the heavy rain.
“Normally, I don't pick up strangers, but I did not hesitate that morning to do just that,” Green said. “It was Tonya! I was amazed that God had literally delivered her right to my door step.”
This time, Taylor was ready to turn her life around.
“God's timing is always perfect! So we paid for, and transported her to, a recovery facility out of town and we've continued to stand by her in any way we can to this day,” Green said.
Taylor, the mother of two (25 and 21), is a 1994 graduate of Phillips High School. She worked for her first husband's business, TC Tires in Russellville, for several years.
Taylor's methamphetamine use started in 2017 after she and her second husband split up. Taylor said she was encouraged to try meth and started doing it 'every now and then for energy.'
Before long though, an addict's control over the drug flip-flops, and the drug begins to control the addict. That's what happened with Taylor.
“I started using it every day and then snorting it wasn't good enough. So I started putting a needle in my arm from there,” Taylor said. “I lost my vehicle and a month later lost my apartment at East Side Apartments. That's when I started living on the street.
“I was shoplifting to pay for the habit. I had a cell phone but could only use it on WiFi because I couldn't afford any minutes. Drugs took over my whole life. I was using meth every day and got very underweight, only eating every two or three days. I'm 5'6” and I got down to less than 120 pounds. The last time I went to jail, the leggings they gave me were a girls' large,” she added.
When she met Green, Taylor had no home, no job, no vehicle, a broken relationship with her family and she was on probation.
Two years later, Taylor lives in her own apartment in Florence, has a car and she's rebuilt her relationships with her children. Taylor will soon be a grandmother. She's done with the court system, other than paying off some fines.
She is training for a mentorship program where she will work as a peer specialist. Taylor will be assigned a client and work as the client's advocate, helping to provide assistance to help that person recover from addiction. Once she completes the online training, she will be certified through the Alabama Department of Mental Health.
Taylor continues to talk with her sponsor three times each week and she regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The road to recovery from addiction never ends, and Taylor realizes that.
“You have to stay around people in recovery who want the same goals in life that you want. Whatever you surround yourself with is what you'll eventually become,” Taylor said.
Taylor remains active with the Russellville Coalition, helping Green to reach out to and help those still homeless and in addiction.
“Being a part of Tonya's story has been such an inspiration for us, and witnessing first hand God's ability to restore what the enemy has stolen is nothing short of miraculous,” Green said. “Recovery for Tonya wasn't always easy. But, I'm sure she would agree that it was worth it!”
Taylor isn't the Russellville Coalition's only success story, and Green says she won't be the last. Coalition members continue to work to prevent homelessness in Russellville, and have successfully helped many get off the streets and out of the woods the past two years.
As with any outreach, there are successes and failures. And that doesn't discourage Green.
“As much as we wish every story could end as well as Tonya's, we realize most will not. But that does not discourage us or make us feel our efforts are unsuccessful. We may never see the true results of what we do in someone's life, but it is what God has told us to do until He comes,” Green said.
Taylor will always appreciate what Green and the Russellville Coalition did for her after that rainy morning the two women finally met.
“She really helped me, and went above and beyond for me. From finding me dry clothes that first day to giving me food to eat,” Taylor said. “When I got my first job, there was no way for me to get work shoes. She bought those for me. Whenever she has questions about where to find people to help, I let her know when I hear about a new place. She buys groceries for folks. She's filled my tank with gas when I had to go to rehab in Birmingham. If I ever really and truly need anything, she's there for me.
“When you're homeless, people look at you like you're not worthy or equal to them and it hurts. I had to go dumpster diving for food. That's hard and people judge you. Before I was in my addiction, I was probably one of those people who looked the other way. If I hadn't gone through my addiction, I wouldn't be equipped to help people going through that now,” Taylor said.
To become involved in the Russellville Coalition, call 256-815-5249. Donations, payable to the Russellville Coalition, may be mailed to P.O. Box 415, Russellville, Al., 35653. For more information about the Russellville Coalition, email free2praiseministries@yahoo.com.
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