Before retiring, Leonard Ord had a very active life. He loved his role at a large company, which allowed him to interact with people and travel for business regularly.

Despite his love for the job, Leonard looked forward to retiring early. Unfortunately, the drastic lifestyle change took a toll on him.

“I couldn’t cope with retirement,” Leonard says. “I had so much on the go and then when I lost all that excitement, I got bored.”

Every day that passed since retiring felt challenging for Leonard. He turned to alcohol to make his days go by faster. Over the years, his drinking affected his health, and Leonard would find himself visiting his doctor weekly. He was told that his liver was shutting down, and that if he kept going on this path, he wouldn’t have long to live.

Up the Stairs

Soon after, Leonard had a serious fall, which forced his son and daughter to intervene. They initially took him to a hospital to sober up. However, he was discharged after a few days. That’s when his family decided to contact The Salvation Army in Halifax’s Anchorage Recovery Program, a six-month residential rehabilitation program for men.

“They got hold of a nice lady who worked in the Anchorage program,” Leonard remembers. “And she said, ‘Well, if you can get him down here by four o’clock on Friday, we’ll get him in.’ ”

When they arrived, Leonard could barely get up the stairs. However, knowing how invested his family was in his recovery gave him the drive to go on.

“When my son and I arrived, we looked up at the Salvation Army logo and read the words ‘Giving Hope Today.’ We stared at these words for a moment, knowing this would be my last chance. I was feeling scared and weak, and my son helped me up the stairs and into the building.”

“I Have My Life Back”

Once he got involved in the program, Leonard slowly regained his strength. As time went on, he felt uplifted by the staff, made friends and was physically active daily. He even got more involved with the Army, taking on the role of Shieldy, The Salvation Army’s mascot, for an event.

He credits the recovery program he took part in with helping him get sober for good.

“The programming here is unreal,” Leonard shares. “It’s just what I needed. They keep you engaged. You know, not just once a day, it’s all day that keeps you accountable.”

It has now been a year since he first arrived at the Anchorage program and graduated from it; he has not had any relapses since. He thanks his counsellors at The Salvation Army for keeping him accountable and being there for him when he was down. Leonard says he will always remember the day his family made the call to The Salvation Army.

“I’ll remember that for the rest of my life because I have my life back,” he says. “I’m almost back to 100 percent to where I was when I was in the working world.” 

Juan Romero is the staff writer/news media relations specialist at The Salvation Army’s territorial headquarters in Toronto.

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