Donors credit Lifeline with saving their son

As a parent and grandparent, Cindy Hall understands when she hears her friends say they’d give anything to restore their families suffering from addiction. Because she has.

Cindy and husband Chuck, former residents of Gilbertsville now living in Florida for his job, are regular givers to Lifeline because of its role in restoring their own family.

“We watched a miracle right before our eyes,” she said.

Their son, now 35, has been sober five years since graduating from Lifeline. Like so many others, he had been through several rehab programs unsuccessfully before going to Lifeline as a last resort.

Chuck and Cindy Hall, Lifeline donors

“He went only because he had to,” she said. “He was about to lose his family, about to lose everything. And we were about to lose them, too. We just couldn’t take the turmoil any longer, and we were ready to cut off any and all communication.”

Two weeks into the program, their son had to flag them down at their first visitation. “I thought he was going to die when he went in,” she said, “and in two weeks, I didn’t even recognize him. The change in him was unreal.”

The transformation was real – and lasting. Cindy thinks she knows why this rehab worked, when so many others didn’t:

• “It’s God-centered. They address every aspect of being a Godly man – how to be a man, a father…how to manage finances. They treat the whole person.”

• It’s affordable and long-term. “It costs less than most 30-day programs, yet it lasts for nine months.”

• The staff is made up of people who have walked the same journey to recovery. “They have been through what he was going through, so they could relate.”

As hard as it was, Cindy said she would not change anything about her family’s struggle. “My son wouldn’t be the man he is today without that experience,” she said.

Because of their gratitude, Cindy and Chuck give their Christian tithe – 10 percent of their income – to charities who help people. “Instead of tithing to one church because we move around a lot, we give our tithes to organizations that do God’s work. And that’s what Lifeline does.”