City

SERvE
Volume 1 • January 1, 2008

CitySERvE
New Hope Center

Table of contents Self-made pizza man

Letter from the Director p2 makes a change
Measured results p3 Brendan’s Story. Following the steely resolve of his
Irish Catholic father, Brendan worked 70 hours a
Success stories p4-5
week in a pizza shop on Chicago’s south side.
Program spotlight p6 But excess income fueled an uncontrollable
cocaine habit. Finally, a car-stealing stunt
Donor profile p7 landed Brendan in jail, where he first cried
out to God.
Thanks to you! p8

“As a child, we went to church,

but we left God there,” said
Brendan. “I thought religion was
for bald men in togas praying to
the east.”

Brendan also grew up with an Irish

notion that a man who could hold
down his liquor and still fulfill
his duties was respectable. “The
problem was, others could
stop drinking, and I couldn’t,”
he said.

New Hope Center staff

members showed Bren-
dan that his stubborn
self-reliance eclipsed
the help that only God
could provide. Today
Brendan says,“The self
that tried is the self
that died. Now I live
by faith in Christ.”