By: Eric Czarnik | Sterling Heights Sentry | Published December 18, 2023
STERLING HEIGHTS — When Julia Frueh got married in November, she knew she wanted the occasion to be somewhere special. And for her, that place was the church at Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac.
Frueh, 34, from Sterling Heights, has spent the last several months getting help from the nonprofit charity to recover from substance abuse and trauma. As a result of her recovery journey, she said she is slowly starting to rebuild ties with her parents, as well as her now-husband’s family.
Pastor Kent Clark, Grace’s CEO, officiated the marriage rites for Frueh and her husband, Jason. And the charity’s other members helped make the happy occasion happen too.
“They did everything for me,” Frueh said. “One of the case managers there bought me my wedding cake. The pastor’s wife paid for my dress to be altered. My dinner was paid for. … I just can’t believe how many people were involved. They made that day magical.”
Frueh said she had a troubled childhood growing up in Michigan and Florida. She explained that after being kidnapped and raped, she ran away from home at age 11 and managed to hitchhike from Florida to Michigan. She said her mom then took her to a psychiatric hospital in Michigan and didn’t come back to get her.
From there, Frueh said, she was entered into the foster care system until she became an adult. She said the institutionalization made her struggle with emotions and gave her a “trauma brain,” which she unsuccessfully tried to treat with drugs such as heroin, crack and meth, starting at around 19 years old.
She said her battle with drug addiction spanned the next decade or so of her life. At one point, she relapsed and overdosed while in a truck on train tracks.
But Frueh said that after stealing from a drug dealer and getting beaten into a coma afterward, she knew she needed help. She said she remembered a relative getting help from Grace Centers of Hope, so she decided to go there to find a path toward recovery.
Frueh said the GCH program she undertook involves staying on the charity’s campus. She said she originally lived only on campus during the first two months, but was able to leave on weekends afterward.
During the first few months, she spent her time becoming clean from drugs, going to Christian-based classes and engaging in service activities, she said. She took trauma recovery and parenting classes, engaged in Bible studies, attended church, and more.
“I’m 34 and I’m finally getting help,” she said. “I had time to sit with the Lord, and I closed my mouth and I opened up my heart.”
The program also inspired her to get married to Jason, the father of her two young children. She said she and her husband took relationship classes through the charity’s church.
“I told Jason, my husband, this isn’t just a program to me. This is a change in life,” she said. “There are relationships that have been restored. That’s good for the children. That marriage has given me a sense of security.”
Frueh said she’ll soon be in a career-building program that will involve making a resume and doing a job search. She said that through her activities at Grace, she has already been offered a couple of job opportunities.
“I’m looking forward to the job search, and I think God has some plans for me to help and give back,” she said.
She hopes to move back to her Sterling Heights home after getting a job.
“I’ve been in a lot of institutions in my whole life, and this is the only thing that has worked for me,” she said. “It saved my family too.”
According to Grace Centers of Hope, in 2022 it served 1,318 people, provided 34,696 childcare hours and served over 129,000 meals.
Clark said the charity’s mission includes seeing people get their lives back, become productive citizens and transition from homelessness to homeownership.
He commented on Frueh’s case and what it was like to preside over her wedding.
“It was wonderful to see the family being put back together and healthy,” he said. “Here’s the thing: We take no government funding, and I sincerely believe that family is the building block of a solid society. America is falling apart in a real sense because of drugs and families falling apart, so it’s a real thrill for me to see families coming together.”
Frueh added that she looks forward to spending the holidays by visiting family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Learn more about Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac by visiting gracecentersofhope.org or by calling (855) HELP-GCH.