Walking in His Steps

They operate on a shoestring out of some humble locations on quiet streets in Ramona. Men and women who have managed to pull themselves out of the dark, scary place of addiction are bringing hope and light into the lives of others through a recovery organization called In His Steps.

The name of the group isn't lost on those for whom the housing is a last resort.

"It's like a modern day Noah's Ark here," resident Russell Dickinson of Ramona told Ramona Patch recently. "People can come here and find safety."

Safety is no small commodity in the lives of many of the residents who have come out of abusive families, homes where alcohol and drugs are being abused, living on the streets or living in prison.

Keith DeVaney, 48, came straight out of Donovan State Prison to In His Steps. Recently, he sat chatting to a small group of men on the steps of one of their buildings on La Brea Street and volunteered his story.

DeVaney said he's a contractor from Escondido. He had been doing methamphetamine and speed for 30 years. He had managed to get off the drugs for a year at In His Steps, when he had to go to jail for an old offense — commercial burglary.

"I had a couple of beers before I went to jail," he said in a confessional tone, "but now I've been clean and sober for eight months."

"Bob stuck by me all the way," DeVaney said, referring to Pastor Bob Denny who runs the program. DeVaney said he served 34 days in jail but that it could have been much longer.

"They let me come out because I was in this program and Bob was helping me," he said.

Denny knows the ropes. He has lived the life.

"I was an IV meth user and alcoholic for 25 years," he said. "I finally went cold turkey for two or three days."

Cold turkey? That sounds grim.

"All the anxiety and depression comes back when a person goes cold turkey," he said "It's the stuff we self-medicate for and it just makes it worse. All the emotional upheavals."

He said drugs and alcohol fill up "that emptiness that we have in our lives."

Denny said he made it through the detox process with a lot of prayer, God's help and lots of bowls of rice and chili.

"You've gotta get your system working properly again," he said. "When the men come in here, they're so hungry. They'll eat whatever's put in front of them and lots of it. In the first 30 days that's all they do — eat. Most of them put on 10 pounds in 30 days."

Residents of the program make a commitment of at least six months to a year. They sign a set of rules, including a curfew of 10 p.m. and some chores.

The recovery program involves three meetings a day plus devotions. The teachings offer 12-step type of information but with a Christian twist through workbooks in the "Celebrate Recovery" and "Most Excellent Way" series.

Residents provide urine samples to verify that they're in compliance with the "no tolerance" regimen at the homes. Denny uses a dip test to analyze the results right there on the premises. He asks people to leave if they're using illegal drugs or alcohol again.

"We can't have anyone using around men trying to go clean," he said.

The age range of residents is 18 to 70.

Denny said he's concerned about an increase in heroin use by young people in Ramona.

"It's the latest thing," he said. "It really makes me sick. The hardest part is talking to the parents who call crying."

Denny said kids in high schools are giving each other prescription pills like the narcotic OxyContin. Then the next step is selling each other heroin.

"Their morality slides then," he said. "And these are some good kids from good homes. Kids who would not normally do the things they're doing, such as stealing from their parents. It starts in high school and people are addicted by the time they're 20 to 25," he said.

"I have friends whose kids have died in accidents on the roads around here, like San Vicente," he said, shaking his head.

Denny said the average age of residents at In His Steps is 35. People hear about the program through word of mouth, he said, and they get referrals from law enforcement, probation and parole authorities. When people want a secular program, In His Steps will refer them to the Sobering Center and Fellowship Center in Escondido.

He believes In His Steps is less costly to taxpayers than government programs.

"We can move a person through our program at about 10 percent of the cost of a government program," he said.

Denny believes the recovery rate at In His Steps is 60 percent, though he doesn't keep any statistics.

"It's hard to know. We encourage people to get connected with a church and be accountable to their pastor and get involved in the community and stay working," he said. "When that happens, and they're doing well, we usually don't hear from them again."

Before anyone leaves, Denny likes to offer exit strategies and involve families.

"Usually, people want to go home but home is where the problems are," he said. "We try to get the family involved in workbooks too."

In His Steps is funded by private donations and donations from local churches. Residents pay rent to the program once they get jobs.

Several local ministers teach lessons at the La Brea homes, including Robert Clement from , Paul Owens from , Hal and Delores Mortier of and "Pastor Frank" from Barona Baptist on the Barona Indian Reservation.

Some of the men from In His Steps attend a monthly men's breakfast at The Grange on Seventh Street, where they're joined by other men from another recovery program in Ramona called Restoration Ranch. Some give moving testimonies of the accidents, mistakes, unhealthy relationships, losses, twists and turns and poor choices in their lives that led into destructive downward spirals out of which they are climbing back up. Some bear tattoos and scars related to pasts they find hard to talk about.

Various churches in Ramona also work together to provide food for homeless people on Monday nights at The Grange. The ministry, called Open Doors, has been operating for about 15 years. It's coordinated by Madeline Holmquist, who owns the houses used by In His Steps on La Brea Street, Denny said.

Denny has attended what is now called Mountain View Church, which was formerly a Baptist church, for 25 years. He's originally from San Diego, though he was born in Oklahoma.

Tom Richard is the general manager at In His Steps. Richard is originally from New Hampshire. He tells the story of his marriage breakup and using drugs to cope. Richard said he tried twice to get help, "but if you're not in the right place, it's not going to work."

Richard came to the San Diego area to serve in the Navy. An amusing twist to his recovery story in Ramona is that he was baptized through Hope Vineyard — in a water trough at a horse ranch.

Carol Davis and Jerda Campbell are the house managers of one of the women's homes operated by In His Steps. Davis said she went through recovery herself.

The women's homes operate the same as the men's except for the addition of a room where kids can come to visit their mothers and play privately with them. The locations of the women's homes are kept private to protect anyone who has entered the program to escape domestic violence. The home that Ramona Patch visited was spacious and light-filled, with a piano, books and flowers in vases. Set back on several acres, the home seemed peaceful, with songbirds in the surrounding trees.

It must feel like heaven to women in need.

"It was for me," Davis said.

In His Steps can be reached at 760-788-4716. The organization will have a 2.5-mile walkathon fundraiser from 8:30 to 10 a.m. June 4 at the track at Refreshments will be provided. Walkers can turn in sponsor sheets and monies at the event. Check-in will be at 7 a.m.

In His Steps is in need of vehicles that run well, as well as funding for medical and dental needs of the program residents, transportation, food and shelter.

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Editor's note: A prescription drug drop-off will be held at Ramona High School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot, at 1401 Hanson Lane. No questions will be asked. The event is sponsored by the Sheriff's Department.