ATC Radiothon

He came into a Christian addictions recovery program thinking he could "put up with the God stuff for a year" in order to get sober, but today not only is he sober but he's passionately following Jesus and with hopes of ministering to others.

A clinical counsellor is in awe at the transformation taking place in students through Adult & Teen Challenge. 

Love is the foundation of every clinical counselling session for people recovering from addictions and it makes all the difference, according to James Kalimina. He is the Clinical Counsellor at Adult & Teen Challenge and has been there ever since completing his degree at Providence College five years ago.

A father about to graduate from Adult & Teen Challenge says he is a completely transformed man.

Adam Lepp enrolled in the one-year in-house program last fall and has been working in the vehicle donation program in Winnipeg while recovering. 

"At the shop I'm generally in the scrap bay, pulling apart cars. It ultimately helps us fund the program."

Lepp is celebrating one year in the program on Tuesday and hopes to apply for the SURGE leadership program ATC offers graduates. 

At his lowest point, a Winnipeg man stepped into traffic carrying a Bible, but today he is clean with renewed hope in the ATC program. 

Shaun started the Adult and Teen Challenge one-year program five months ago in Winnipeg. How he ended up there is quite the story. 

"I can start with the fact that both my parents were heroin addicts and I was born to them. They were both charged with criminal charges. My dad went to jail first for two years and then when he got out my mom got incarcerated."

Shaun grew up in Swan River, Man. 

The final total is $200,793

What an incredible finish to the Be Part of a Story radiothon. On Thursday evening the total was $79,313 with just over 30 minutes left. The team was hoping a few larger gifts would help us get to the $100,000 mark. Instead, in the dying moments, a phone call came in from a family who said they would match all funds raised, up to $100,000! 

Watch chvnradio.com for more details on this incredible event. In the end $100,000 was raised which became $200,000 thanks to this anonymous Christian family.

A whole family is being restored thanks to a father's newfound personal relationship with Jesus, helping him overcome addiction and anxiety.

Peter McMullen has graduated from the one-year program at Adult and Teen Challenge in Winnipeg and is now in the SURGE leadership program they offer. 

However, before McMullen stepped foot in ATC he struggled with years of alcoholism, leaving him hopeless.

After years of struggling, a couple from Southern Manitoba is rejoicing that their son is finally free from addiction.

Shirley and Garry Vickery are the parents of David, a graduate of the one-year program at Adult and Teen Challenge, as well as their 18-month SURGE program. 

"Our son's childhood had been great. He was very active and full of energy. He was a good student until later grades when things began to slip," says Garry.

The couple dedicated their son to the Lord when he was young, and David grew up in a loving Christian home. 

While alcoholism and addiction ran in a couple's history, Adult and Teen Challenge helped stop the vicious cycle, breaking the chains and setting multiple generations free.

Tara Murray and her husband Aaron grew up in different countries, both of them had alcoholic fathers. This lead to brokenness which each tried to fix through more addiction. 

"In 2013 I found myself kicked out of my mom's house and overdosed at a gas station. Police woke me up and called an ambulance," says Murray, the Program Director at the Women's Adult and Teen Challenge centre in Brandon, Man. 

A man has found purpose after feeling broken, hurt, and hopeless in his addictions.

"I was stuck in a life-controlling addiction to meth and alcohol and my addiction had taken me to dark places, to the point of me trying to end my life. I was broken, hurt, and hopeless," Spencer Dunne says.

The addiction resulted in Dunne spending several instances in a psychiatric ward. Dunne says he could have become a permanent resident of the ward. 

His family struggled, watching the lifestyle take control of Dunne.

"God is using her to write a really good story," says a couple that is taking care of their granddaughter as their daughter gets the help she needs.

Connie and Davis Cox live in Alberta. Their daughter Maleigha is almost finished her one-year program at Adult and Teen Challenge in Brandon, Man.

"What we've seen is her recommitment to a life with Christ and walking with the Lord," says Davis. 

The couple raised their children in a Christian home and went to small groups and church on Sunday. The idea of God wasn't new, but Maleigha chose her own path for a while.