When asked how The Salvation Army’s Harbour Light program in Bermuda changed David Williams’ life, the carpenter prefaces his remarks with, “I’m not good at telling stories; I’m not a storyteller,” and then proceeds to narrate in meticulous detail the story of his life.

“I came to Harbour Light when I was 45. And I got my life together. And things have been going pretty good since then.”

A Summer’s Start

David was born in 1964 and came from a very religious family. He didn’t have any issues until he became a teenager.

“When I was 16, I start smoking marijuana and drinking beer,” he says. And things did not get better for close to three decades.

David’s turning point came one June day.

“I looked awful. I weighed 120 pounds, and I stunk,” he says now at the memory. “I was in bad shape.”

A customer called David to ask if he was interested in a cabinet-making job.

“This is my ticket out of here,” he thought happily. “I’ll do these cabinets, get paid a lot of money, pay my back rent.”

But the customer took one look at David and said, “I don’t want you to do it. I’ll get someone else.”

“What am I going to do?” a distraught David asked himself.

On his walk home, he stopped. While he’d always been a praying man, David’s “praying” consisted of “cutting deals.”

“I’d say to God, ‘If You help me, I’ll do this and I won’t do that.’ But that never seemed to work.”

Now, he prayed. Really prayed.

“I didn’t try to cut any deals,” he says. “I just asked for help. And I stood there for quite a while. Once I was finished, I started walking home again, but I felt a huge weight taken off my shoulder.”

When he returned home, a rejuvenated David contacted someone he knew who was in recovery, who, in turn, connected him with the people at The Salvation Army’s Harbour Light Addiction and Life Skills Program in Hamilton, Bermuda.

“They told me to come on June 22, 2010, right after the first day of summer,” says David. “I did. I reeked of alcohol. And I started my journey.”

“I looked awful. I weighed 120 pounds, and I stunk. I was in bad shape.” David Williams

Valued Alumni

David stayed at Harbour Light for a year and a half.

“What they did was keep me away from alcohol and drugs long enough for me to be able to get over the addiction,” he says.

It was supposed to be a six-month program but when David approached his counsellor and told her he felt it was time to leave, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“She didn’t mean to,” smiles David. “However, she was right. I realize now that I was nowhere near ready.”

But when he approached her after a year and told her he felt he was ready to leave, she surprised him by saying, “David, you’re helping a lot of people here. Why don’t you stay around a little longer?”

“I mentioned that I’m not a good storyteller,” he says, “but I would listen to people and encourage them, even be a peacemaker if that was what was needed.”

After a year and a half, David was called to the office, and the staff told him he could leave on October 26, 2011.

He was not done with Harbour Light, though.

“David has been an active alumnus for the Harbour Light program,” says Chandra-Lee Bascome, social missions assistant executive director at Harbour Light. “He’s always come around and, in fact, gives back a lot to the program. Because he’s a carpenter by trade, he’s helped save us money by using his expertise to fix things around here. He stays connected to The Salvation Army.”

A Day at a Time

Besides helping David to conquer his addiction, Harbour Light helped deepen his faith.

“Now, I’ve got the biggest, baddest bodyguard ever,” he laughs.

“You know,” he continues, “God’s helped me through daily life when situations come up. Instead of trying to figure it out myself, I take it up in prayer. And the answers to the questions just pop in my head.

“I have Someone I can depend on.”

When asked where he would be without Harbour Light, David replies, simply, “I don’t think I’d be alive, to be honest.

“I have been able to use the tools that I was equipped with at Harbour Light and stay clean one day at a time.

“Everything has changed,” he concludes. “I still have bad days, but my worst day today is better than my best day back then.”

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