Bad habits, particularly drug use, plague kids who grow up in the inner city. Joshua Stanton of Detroit was no exception. Occasional drug use did not stop him from achieving success, though. “I put in 100 hours a week and built a big construction business in Houston, TX. In fact, all I did was work.” Despite the money and success, he always felt something was missing in his life. Exhausted and disillusioned, Joshua decided to take a vacation in the spring of 2012. “This was the beginning of the downward spiral that led me to God,” he recalled, “because when I returned to Michigan, I met up with some old buddies and we started partying … a lot.” Further disillusioned and now using drugs again, Joshua closed his legitimate business and engaged in the drug trade. “Partying had depleted my resources – nearly a quarter of a million dollars – and I was beginning to feel desperate. In February 2013, I was arrested in Detroit after a search of my vehicle revealed a large stash of drugs.” After posting bond, Stanton fled the state. “I was in an ugly place,” Joshua said slowly. “My heroin addiction was out of control. Then I started using Crystal Meth.” His life spiraling out of control, he was arrested in Chicago and again fled. Then, while in Flint on a drug trip, he hit rock bottom. In a terrible fight that included family members, Joshua was arrested again. He decided to face the music and was arraigned on December 23, 2013. “I remember going completely numb when I was standing in front of that judge,” he said. That year, Joshua spent the most memorable Christmas he can remember … in jail. “There was an old-timer in there talking about Jesus,” Joshua recalled, “and the way he was talking made a lot of sense to me. It became clear what I had been missing my whole life.” As a new inmate, Joshua was not allowed anything in his cell, but a guard let him take a Bible anyway. “The next day when I walked into the medical room for a consultation, I saw my family doctor from years past. I had no idea he was the jail’s medical director, and when I saw him, I just broke down crying.” A Christian man who had often talked to Joshua about Jesus, the doctor explained salvation and gave him guidance for reading the Bible. “When I started reading, I realized who I needed, and I prayed for salvation. From the very first minute, the Lord started working miracles in my life. It was strange, but I could feel the weight being peeled off of me. My burdens got so light so quick that I’ve never felt so peaceful as I did sitting in jail,” Joshua says looking back.

Catholic Charities operates three soup kitchens in Flint that serve 400-600 meals a day, according to John Manse, Community Services Director. On the first Friday of every month, you will find Helen Bade volunteering at the North End Soup Kitchen. “I make the coffee there, and keep the coffee station stocked with sugars and cream,” she said with a giant smile. This doesn’t sound like a big job, but Helen is 98 years old and has been volunteering at the soup kitchen and at St. John Vianney for well over 40 years. The soup kitchen serves lunch and dinner to the needy at their Stewart Avenue location on Flint’s north side. They also serve big Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to make the holidays brighter for many. My City Magazine visited with Helen and her son Richard Bade at her residence at the Woodhaven Senior Community where she talked about her childhood and her volunteerism.

The whole town turns pink on October 2! You can help Financial Plus Credit Union, Chassé Ballroom and Latin Dance Studio and other sponsors raise money for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer by attending Pink Night. The 8th-annual event will include Blackstone’s fare, silent and live auctions, dancing, drink specials and an “artistic, yet conservative bra fashion show.”

Dust off your tuxes and primp your pooches! It’s time for the Humane Society of Genesee County’s Ties & Tails “Dine with Your Canine” fundraiser.

It was a little boy named Michael who tugged local businessman Dan Crannie’s heart strings at Whaley Children’s Center many years ago. Dan, owner of Signs by Crannie, had done some work for the center for abused children. Although he had built signs for Whaley, Crannie had never seen its inner workings. That changed when Bill Weitzel, Whaley’s Director of Development at the time, asked him to come to Whaley to personally discuss some sign work. “He gave me a tour of the building and introduced me to the kids,” Dan remembers, “It was pretty moving.”