What a difference a decade makes. Just 10 years ago, Corrine Frost was in a downward spiral. Addicted to drugs and alcohol, she was working the streets to support her habits.

Now, Corry is the community care ministries secretary at Edmonton Crossroads Community Church and she's back on the streets, sharing God's love and helping women escape a life of drugs and prostitution. She also speaks at youth conferences and schools, telling teens about her life and the ugly realities of drug addiction.

For her commitment to being a transforming influence in her community, Corry was recognized as a Woman of Vision by Global TV Edmonton in February 2012 and was given an award at a special luncheon last Friday.

The award was a complete surprise for Corry.

“I was shocked,” she says. “When they told me I had won the award, I was thinking, 'Yeah, right.'”

Not long ago, winning such an award would have been unimaginable. Raised in a single parent household, Corry was addicted to drugs and alcohol by the time she was 14. While still a teen, she was working in the sex trade, and by 24 she had four kids. Motivated by her desire to raise her kids in a drug-free home, Corry gave up using for 18 years.

“But I didn't change the way I saw it in my head,” she says. “I didn't change that I had no self-esteem. And when my youngest turned 18, it was very easy to slide back into the drug lifestyle.”

Arrested for drug trafficking in December 2002, Corry took the opportunity to clean up while she was in jail. While there, she took 19 programs, including relapse prevention and anger management.

“I took everything I thought I would need to fit back into society,” she notes.

When Corry got out of jail in spring 2003, she decided she wanted to go to church. She tried many different churches, but she didn't feel like she fit in anywhere.

Then one of her friends, a former addict himself, invited her to come to Edmonton Crossroads.

“I felt like I was home,” Corry says. “No one looked at me any differently than anybody else. No one judged me.”

She joined the corps and became involved in a Salvation Army thrift store in Slave Lake, AB. When she returned to Edmonton, she started working in the corps' drop-in centre. Now, she runs the women's ministry, which includes a van ministry that helps women who work the streets. Every Monday and Friday evening, Corry drives around town, giving women food, hot drinks and a place to warm up.

If any of the women express an interest in leaving the lifestyle, Corry works to get them off the street that night, connects them to appropriate services and gives them the corps' contact information.

“We offer hope,” she says. “That's why I do it. I want the girls to know that there's a way out if they want it.”

For Corry, the Woman of Vision award is a great encouragement.

“It means I'm doing the right thing,” she says. “It means a lot to me.”