
July 09, 2025
Light after walking through hell: Men thankful for Grace Centers of Hope after graduating life skills program
Originally Published: Hometown Life
Client: Grace Centers of Hope
PONTIAC — Robert Mason, a former Milford resident and pharmacy technician, walked four miles from an Oakland County Jail cell to Grace Centers of Hope—his last hope.
Jack Mac Intosh, a Farmington graduate and former Chicago Bears athletic trainer, checked himself in to Grace after his third DUI.
And Grace was offered to former Plymouth bartender Dan Edwards by a judge as a last-ditch effort to save him after a more than decade-long substance abuse spiral.
“I was trying to find my place in life,” Edwards, now 35, said. “After experimenting with alcohol in my late 20s, I started using opiates and prescription painkillers. I got them legally at first, and then illegally. When I graduated to heroin, life got more chaotic and I went to 10 different rehabs.”
But now Edwards, Mason and Mac Intosh have a milestone worth celebrating. They, along with 150 others, were honored during Grace Centers of Hope’s Commencement Ceremony on June 6.
“These are people who were lost, broken, and totally hopeless,” said Darin Weiss, CEO of Grace Centers of Hope, a nonprofit that offers a variety of long-term services including substance abuse rehabilitation and housing. “Now they have new faith, new hope, new jobs, new relationships, and a whole new community.”
None of it was easy. Some of the graduates completed a 2-year “after care program” while others like Edwards, Mason and Mac Intosh completed the first step, a year-long life skills program at Grace that Weiss said can feel like “walking through the valley of the shadow of death.”
But for three men who had already trekked through hell, it seemed more like reaching for light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
A desperate plea to find a way out
Mason, 57, had been seeking a way out of a troubled childhood in Florida when he joined the Army in the mid-‘80s and served for eight years, including in Operation Desert Storm. But while he escaped an alcoholic father, he couldn’t outrun his own increasing drinking problem, which resulted in a failed marriage after 10 years, the loss of his driver’s license, and ultimately, his arrest for domestic violence in Milford last year.
While in jail, he was ordered to have no contact with his girlfriend and found himself at the lowest point he’d ever been, pleading with God to show him a way out or let him die.
When he was released from jail on April 25, 2024, he walked to Grace Centers of Hope with nothing but the clothes on his back. Although the shelter was at capacity, they found room for Mason.
On any given day, more than 400 men, women and children are at Grace Centers of Hope. The life skills program, Weiss said, features daily devotionals and a variety of groups and classes to help participants overcome physical addiction and psychological issues, as well as learn how to forgive, to make amends, adopt a work ethic and stay committed for a long period of time.
Longevity of Grace’s program, as well as a newfound faith, have been key in Mason’s success.
“A lot of rehabs are set up for 30 or 90 days and for me, that wasn’t enough,” Mason said. “Being here for a year consistently and having God in my life is the only way to keep me sober.”
After a life that went sideways, a new way forward
Faith would also unlock sobriety for Mac Intosh.
After graduating from Farmington High School in 1981, Mac Intosh went off to Michigan State University where he earned a physiology degree before moving to Chicago. His resume included several years working with the Chicago Bears NFL team in training and rehab, before moving into sales management.
But Mac Intosh, now 62, recalls that when he returned to Michigan in 2017 after he got divorced, “things started going sideways.”
“Unlike a lot of guys that come into Grace and haven’t had success and happiness, I have four great kids and still found a way to get messed up,” Mac Intosh said. “The good news is I came to the right place.”
His arrival at Grace Centers of Hope came after his third time getting caught driving drunk in as many years and a failed attempt at sobriety by using Alcoholics Anonymous.
Mac Intosh said he thinks AA is “great,” but he wanted something different.
“I am not gonna be a Bible thumper, but my life is better letting God handle things on a day-to-day basis,” Mac Intosh said.
Commencement for him meant he has an opportunity to live a happier life. Mac Intosh is now in the aftercare program, working in one of Grace’s thrift stores and considering returning to school to be an addiction counselor. He is still living in the main building, while he waits for the rebuild of a home in Grace Village to be completed. Grace Centers of Hope owns 61 homes in Pontiac, where participants in its aftercare program reside.
Mac Intosh enjoys cooking and has made breakfast for up to 14 guys at Grace as part of his “giveback,” is looking forward to honing his culinary skills again once he’s in his new home with his new friends.
Friends mean never having to walk alone
That camaraderie is something Edwards has found solace in at Grace after his life went a “different trajectory than planned,” veering from an alcohol problem after high school into heroin use in recent years. To support his habit, he stole from stores and committed petty theft.
After Edwards stole a car in February 2024, a judge gave him one last chance at Grace. He grabbed at the life preserver.
“I came to Grace not knowing what it was about and found my footing there,” Edwards said. “I found a community of people who are serious because it's long term. They teach you how to be sober and build a life while in recovery and give you the tools to do that… You find having a spiritual brotherhood with people who have spent a year with makes you not want to leave.”
Now, Edwards is in the aftercare program, living in a house with five other men. He has his license back and a new job waiting tables at a restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, where he also has support. In the space of a year, he has reclaimed his life and wants to help others find their way out of suffering, with perseverance and hard work at Grace Centers of Hope.
Mason is already doing the same. A year after he walked from jail to Grace as a broken man, he has given up alcohol and a 30-year career as a pharmacy technician. He’s now the men’s intake coordinator for Grace Centers of Hope, a job with a purpose to put others on a road to a better life, one that he has trod himself.
“I walked four miles and changed the whole path,” Mason said. “I tell people my story and that it will work, if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get better.”
For more information on Grace Centers of Hope and how you can get help or give help, visit www.gracecentersofhope.org.
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