Phyllis

My name is Phyllis Diggins. In December of 1999, I became the very first graduate of the Teen Challenge women’s program here in Milwaukee. I am very grateful for the Lord’s mercy and love. I am also grateful for those who make a place like Teen Challenge possible.

At the age of 14, I started going to taverns to drink. I quit school in the ninth grade and started buying marijuana and reselling it. This eventually led to a severe cocaine addiction. My addiction caused me to lose everything. One day I put a .357 to my head and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed my scalp severely damaging my ear drum but left me alive.

I was tired of getting high. I wanted to stop but didn’t know how. I decided to go to the Mental Health Complex because I knew it was a safe place where I could get help. There, a priest told me that Jesus was the only one that could help me. He told me about Teen Challenge.

I was discharged from the hospital on August 19th and entered as the first female resident in the Milwaukee Teen Challenge Women’s Center on August 20th, 1999. I will be forever grateful for what God has done for me through Teen Challenge. Thank you all who give from your hearts to Teen Challenge. Without God and all of your donations, none of this would have been possible.