Hand Up Ministries Testimonials 5

Garrett Perry

I didn’t know God early in life. I didn’t grow up in church, but we went to church on Easter and on Christmas if we were invited.

My childhood was filled with love and discipline, with perhaps a tad too much discipline. I never tried to run away, and I never did any drugs.

I became addicted to sex when I was a teen. I was sleeping with all kinds of women. I am not boasting. I am truly ashamed of this. This lifestyle led me to prison.

I found God when I was in jail. Someone asked me, “Are you finally going to give God a chance now?” I said yes, and she showed me Romans 5:3-5. We must suffer so God’s grace and power can be shown in us.

I learned of Hand Up Ministries through a prison fellowship and other inmates. I would have been homeless if it wasn’t for Hand Up. This wasn’t because I didn’t know people, but because being a sex offender puts a lot of restrictions on a person. Hand Up opened its doors to me and gave me a chance to grow and prosper when no one could help me.

I am very thankful to Hand Up Minstries for welcoming me with open arms.

God will keep moving in my life, even though some doors have been closed on me. Other doors have been found that are wide open.

I pray God will keep showing us His mercy, His grace, and His holiness so that others can see what a blessing this program can truly be.

Nathan Casillas

I grew up in church. My mom, my siblings, and I lived with my grandparents in Chino Hills, California.

When I was seven, I left my mom to live with my dad in Claremore, Oklahoma, where I lived for the next 19 years. My dad’s side of the family was really into church. They ran three of the biggest churches in New Mexico. I was involved in starting a church.

Being raised in church was nice, but I didn’t really understand what it meant to be part of the church. I didn’t understand God. At a young age, I helped my dad with ushering and other church duties. Growing up around adults made me more mature and immature at the same time.

Things became more difficult when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was difficult to visit her in California, and having my older brother in my life made my life better and worse. He was my go-to guy for everything, but one of his friends introduced me to online pornography. This started my habit of watching pornography.

Growing up with all of these things made me who I am. I made many mistakes, some of which I can’t fix.

Going to prison opened my eyes. It made me turn my life around. I am glad Hand Up Ministries gave me the opportunity I couldn’t have gotten anyplace else.

Hand Up helped me when I had nothing, and I have met new people. I am glad for my mistakes, but hopefully I will make fewer mistakes now.

Eric Kitts

I was born on February 6th, 1983 in Georgia. I did not have a mom when I was growing up. My mom was declared unfit to raise kids. My dad worked hard trying to provide for us and raise two unruly children.

I fought quite a bit when I was growing up, and I was charged with crimes in 1997. I started using meth, taking pills, and smoking weed. I thought my life was over. I was facing over 100 years in prison.

We moved around a lot. I tried to kill myself when I was 14 years old, but God was not ready for me to go. I went on with my life, and I started GED classes. I found a career doing electrical work. I met a female, and I fell in love.

I was wiring houses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was enjoying life. I got a letter from the court right after my 17th birthday. I thought my life was over. I told my girlfriend, and I prayed about it. I received seven years of probation, plus 90 days in prison boot camp. I was sentenced under the first offenders act. I violated that, and now I have to register for life.

I have had multiple charges of failure to register as a sex offender. I got out of prison again in 2024, and I came to Hand Up Ministries. I used meth, and I went to rehab.

By God’s grace, I was allowed to return to Hand Up. This place is a wonderful sober living community for anyone who wants to stay sober. Thank God! I thank Hand Up. I have been sober for 107 days.

Joey Grant

For as long as I can remember, my life felt like an uphill battle against a storm that would never clear. I grew up in an environment shaped by instability, poverty, and deep-seated emotional pain. Without positive role models or a healthy outlet for my frustration, fear and anger became my protective armor.

By the time I became a teenager, the weight of all the childhood trauma had driven me into a cycle of destructive choices.

I looked for validation, comfort, and survival in all the wrong places. This led me into a lifestyle of crime, toxic relationships, and constant running. I thought I was out of control, but I was actually trapped in a downward spiral that eventually ran me into a brick wall: a heavy prison sentence.

Walking into prison was the most terrifying and humbling experience of my life. Stripped of my freedom, my identity, and my comforts, I was forced to face the reality of what my life had become.

I was sitting in a cold, loud cell, and the crushing weight of guilt and shame settled over me. I felt disqualified from having a normal, happy life. I believed I was permanently broken and society had rightly thrown me away for a long time. The walls around my heart were thicker than the prison walls around my body.

I was filled with bitterness toward the world and anger at myself for destroying my own future. I reached a point of absolute emotional and spiritual bankruptcy, but God specializes in meeting people at rock bottom.

One night when the noise in the cell block finally died down and the silence was unbearable, I couldn’t run from my thoughts anymore. With nowhere else to turn, I picked up a worn out Bible someone had left behind.

As I flipped through the pages of the Bible, I read about Jesus, grace, and redemption. I read about a God who didn’t look at people the way the court system did. He didn’t see me as a hopeless case or a number. He saw me as a lost child.

That night, I knelt on the cold concrete floor of my cell, and I wept. I confessed every mistake, and I surrendered my anger. I gave Him the heavy burden of my guilt. In that moment, the atmosphere of my cell shifted. A profound, unexplainable peace washed over me.

God met me right there in my darkest hour. He showed me that while prison had confined my body, His grace could set my soul completely free.

While my heart changed inside prison, the ultimate test of my faith came on the day I walked out of prison. The gate opened, and I walked out into a world that felt completely foreign.

I carried nothing but my discharge papers. The reality of my situation hit me like a wave of ice water. I had absolutely no place to go. I had no home, no job, and no transportation. My family ties had been severed by years of bad choices. Going back to my old neighborhoods meant running right back into the temptation that ruined me in the first place.

I faced a wall of closed doors. Landlords wouldn’t rent to me, and employers wouldn’t hire me. That is when God stepped in through the doors of Hand Up Ministries.

When the rest of the world looked at me with suspicion and judgement, the people at Hand Up Ministries looked at me with Christ-like love.

This ministry gave me real, tangible help that included food, shelter, and transportation. Hand Up Ministries helped me with reentering society.

Today, because of God’s grace and the support of Hand Up Minist5ries, I am a completely transformed person. I thank God for sending Hand Up Ministry into my life.

Tim Webb

I was born in Fresno, California, but I was raised in Laton, California, a very small town. I lived out in the country with my parents, my brother, and my sister. My siblings were older than me.

Dad was a hardworking man. He was a ranch hand. Mom was a stay at home mom, and she was a wonderful person. My dad was an alcoholic. He was sometimes mean, but I loved him very much.

My brother and sister didn’t have much to do with me, so I was by myself a lot. I became a loner, and I have stayed that way in life.

My dad had a heart attack, and we moved from there because he couldn’t work anymore. He got on SSI, but he still drank. My mom went through hard times because of this. Years later, my dad went to AA, and he never drank again.

My siblings moved out, and they did well. I was still staying with my parents, and I was still a loner. I had a few friends and a lot of girlfriends.

I was told that to be a man I had to have girlfriends and have a lot of sex, so that is what I did. However, I never found love, which was what I needed and wanted. I never got into drinking and drugs. I got married, and I had two kids. I couldn’t hold a job for very long, and I destroyed my marriage. I went to prison for five years.

I lived with my parents when I got out of prison. I found a job, and I was doing well. I joined a CB radio club. I met a lot of people through that club, some of whom were good, and some of whom were bad.

I fell in love with someone I had no business loving, and I went back to prison for six years.

This happened 30 years ago. This time I decided to change when I got out, and I changed.

I stayed by myself, and I found a great job. I went from working at the back dock to getting my CDL. I drove a truck. I worked there for 17 years, but the last year I got three speeding tickets.

I was rescinded, and life was not good.

I started drinking again. I had all this money I had saved, and I had nowhere to go.

My brother talked me into moving to Oklahoma, and I got permission from Fresno sheriff to move to Oklahoma. They gave me a paper to give to the sheriff’s department in Claremore, Oklahoma.

I went every year to upgrade, just like I did in Fresno. The last time I went there I was told I needed all of the paperwork from the Fresno court. The man said I would be arrested if I didn’t get the paperwork. He said I was supposed to have brought it from Fresno, but no one in Fresno told me this.

My sister-in-law and a lawyer tried to get the paperwork, but the court would not release it.

I was arrested on the way to work, and I spent two years in prison for failure to register.

My prison counselor told me about Hand Up Ministries, and the great folks at Hand Up accepted me.

I have been out of prison for almost eight months, and I have thanked God and Hand Up every day since I arrived at Hand Up.

I have messed up my life. I am 69 years old. I don’t say I am anything special, but I know I would be dead if it were not for God’s love for me.

I know in my heart that He sent me here to be closer to Him. I do not desire to drink, and sex is unimportant. I wish I had seen that long ago.

My mom tried hard to tell me this, but I didn’t listen to her. I didn’t listen to God, but I am listening now.

I thank Hand Up, and I will become a better person because of Hand Up. I have always believed in God.

Anthony Pierce

I had your basic childhood. My mom was a single parent who raised four kids, and she did the best she could.

After watching the movie The Outsiders, I aspired to live like the character named “Pony Boy.” I started acting out and being rebellious. I started stealing, and I lied and chased women. I became selfish. I rarely went to church. It was all about me. I committed various crimes, and I was in and out of jail throughout my teens.

I met a woman when I was 18, and she unknowingly taught me to be more of a worldly person than I already was. When I was 19, my daughter was born with a hole in her heart. The doctors said she was as good as dead, but God filled that hole and healed her. The doctors saw the hole filling in on the monitor. She is now 30 years old.

I was still rebellious, and my rebellion went well into my marriage of 16 years. My wife accepted my daughter as her own, even though I cheated on her multiple times and mentally abused her. She believed in her vows.

My wife became sick, and even while she was sick she thought of others before herself. I decided to change. I stopped cheating, and I stopped mentally abusing her. She passed away three months after she became sick. She died on the day after her birthday. I was devastated, and I blamed God.

I was in the back of a transport van eight months later, and I gave my life to God. I went to prison, where I surrounded myself with other Christian brothers who guided me in the faith.

A year later, I was behind the pulpit preaching. I know this is my calling. The Holy Spirit told me I was called to preach.

I came to Hand Up Ministries after I was released from prison. I was told in prison that Hand Up Ministries only wants your money, but I was treated with love and respect when I arrived here. Hand Up Ministries has given me a place to live and rides to where I need to go.

The Hand Up staff taught me better ways to speak to prospective employers. Hand Up has program fees, but that is not their focus.

I am still following Christ. I am writing sermons, and I am working on getting Hope and Faith Ministries off of the ground to serve the community under God’s guidance.

Since I became a follower of Christ, I have been cured of diabetes, and I have rebuked diseases under Jesus’ name. I have seen God move in this place. I continue to please God, and I will continue to obey Him. I await the time when God opens the doors to where He wants me to be.

Mason Anderson

I had a very rough childhood. My mom was very abusive, both mentally and physically. I got into trouble just to be safe from my mom.

My dad didn’t come into my life until I was 13 years old. I tried to kill myself when I was 12, and I was sent to a mental health camp.

I moved in with my dad when I was 13, and that was when I started going to church. I went to youth group on Wednesday. I became a happy kid, but that changed at age 15 when I started getting high and trying to fit in.

I started getting into trouble again, and I went to juvie when I was 16. I stayed there till I was 19.

I started dating a 17 year old girl. We started sleeping together, and I eventually got caught.

I spent a year in the county jail, and I was released on probation. Later, I went to prison.

Lately, I have been giving my life back to God, and I have been trying to have Him reform me.

Donald Hines

James Cook

I grew up in a rough situation. My mom and my step-dad drank all of the time and fought all of the time. I saw my step-dad beat up my mom, and I lifted him off of her and sent him to the ER.

That started my life of going to jail. I was in and out of jail. My mom threw me out when I was 11.

I drank alcohol and used drugs. I was in prison in Arkansas for six years, and I moved to Oklahoma after I discharged from prison. I tried to start over, and I stayed out of trouble for seven years. I fell back into my old ways, and I went back to prison.

I did this a couple of more times, but this time I started looking at things differently. I always believed in God, but I never followed His way.

I decided I was going to let God take the lead in my life. I was tired of going back and forth to prison.

I had the chance to come to Hand Up Ministries, and Hand Up gave me a chance to get myself together.

I am thankful to Hand Up Ministries for helping me see things in a different way. I now have a mindset that is different from what I previously had.

I am going to let God keep leading my life. I intend to keep growing more with Him in my life.

I was born in Norman, Oklahoma. My parents couldn’t raise me. They were unable to raise me because of their lifestyle of drugs and alcohol.

My grandparents raised me. I had a good childhood, but I found myself running with the wrong people. I started stealing and drinking around the age of 12. I started using drugs and getting into trouble with the police when I was 19. I was arrested for rape when 19. I was sentenced to five years of incarceration and 15 years of probation.

I did not follow the rules. I did drugs, and I got tattoos. I ran with the wrong crowd, and it led me nowhere. I only lasted nine months when I got out of prison.

I got tired of this lifestyle. When I went back to prison, I met some people who took me to church. Something stirred inside me when I was in church. I fell in love with the word of God.

I got out of prison after 13 years of incarceration. I heard about Hand Up Ministries through Red Rock in Norman. I applied to Hand Up, and I was accepted.

I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food to eat. If not for Hand Up Ministries, I would be dead or in prison.

Hand Up is helping me with daily life and with my walk with Jesus. I appreciate everything Hand Up Ministries has done for me. I am thankful to Hand Up.

WELCOME TO HAND UP MINISTRIES, INC.