“I thought my life would never be normal. I thought my family was cursed,” says Tammy Cortez. Her life story represents the strength of the human spirit and body. It’s a story that seems unbelievable to most people, but all too familiar for those who’ve been victims of abuse and circumstance.
Tammy and her three siblings grew up in a home with a lot of physical and sexual abuse by their father. She started running away from home at the age of 13 and ran away permanently at 16. She says, “Who wants to come home to a house where there’s no love?”
The next twenty years of her life were filled with hard drug use and serving time in prison. She was in prison nine times and eventually began to think more seriously about her future. “I saw old people in prison and I saw I’ve got to change – I can’t keep doing this,” she says. “I was tired of the life and wanted something different but didn’t know that there was something good out there that could change my life,” she adds.
Speaking from her experience, Tammy says that many people are so broken because they’re not raised with guidance. She finally found guidance and hope with Victory Outreach Oakland, a ministry of Victory Outreach International (www.victoryoutreach.org). Since 1985, it has been ministering to the needs of Oakland’s most high-risk communities in collaboration with many local service providers.
Since getting involved with Victory Outreach in 2003, Tammy says, “I never looked back. I found a victory in my life,” she says. Tammy met her husband while he was in a Victory Outreach program. They got married in 2004 and have a daughter in addition to Tammy’s 24 year-old daughter who she had when she was a teenager.
Today, Tammy has found not only the strength to live free from drugs and provide a safe and stable home for her children, but to help others who are still trying to find their way. She opens her home to people in need and currently has four women with their children living in her home. “We’re giving them structure everyday, teaching them how to recognize who they are, and teaching them to forgive,” she says. Reflecting on her former self, she says, “Whoever thought that I could teach people the right things in life?
Speaking about people who are on the street or struggling, she says, “I see my life through the women and men out there.” She says that she can help them because she’s lived what they’re living and once believed that she had no future. During her four years with Victory Outreach she says she has seen many women and men from the street, prison or broken homes grow into their own person and with the help of the church rebuild their families. “There are some powerful men and women who came out of these programs,” she asserts.
“Victory Outreach is not a religion, just people who have a relationship with God,” Tammy says. “They’re not a ministry that just sits back and goes to church and pays their tithes and say halleluiah – we’re a ministry that goes out there. People say there’s no help out there – there is lots of help,” she affirms.
As part of the ministry and her personal mission to help people, Tammy spends a lot of time on Oakland streets offering help to people. On July 1st, she is opening a home for women as an extension of Victory Outreach. It will be for people who want to leave life on the street, whether it’s drugs, prostitution or abuse. Though they receive donations of food and clothing for the women currently in their home, the need will be increasing greatly after July 1st. Transportation needs will be the most critical and they are open to a donation of a van or other solution.
As amazing as her life story is, Tammy doesn’t feel that her transformation is so special. “This can happen to anybody – you just have to be ready and willing,” she states.
Victory Outreach Oakland can be reached at 510-482-4656 or www.vooakland.org.
Tammy and her three siblings grew up in a home with a lot of physical and sexual abuse by their father. She started running away from home at the age of 13 and ran away permanently at 16. She says, “Who wants to come home to a house where there’s no love?”
The next twenty years of her life were filled with hard drug use and serving time in prison. She was in prison nine times and eventually began to think more seriously about her future. “I saw old people in prison and I saw I’ve got to change – I can’t keep doing this,” she says. “I was tired of the life and wanted something different but didn’t know that there was something good out there that could change my life,” she adds.
Speaking from her experience, Tammy says that many people are so broken because they’re not raised with guidance. She finally found guidance and hope with Victory Outreach Oakland, a ministry of Victory Outreach International (www.victoryoutreach.org). Since 1985, it has been ministering to the needs of Oakland’s most high-risk communities in collaboration with many local service providers.
Since getting involved with Victory Outreach in 2003, Tammy says, “I never looked back. I found a victory in my life,” she says. Tammy met her husband while he was in a Victory Outreach program. They got married in 2004 and have a daughter in addition to Tammy’s 24 year-old daughter who she had when she was a teenager.
Today, Tammy has found not only the strength to live free from drugs and provide a safe and stable home for her children, but to help others who are still trying to find their way. She opens her home to people in need and currently has four women with their children living in her home. “We’re giving them structure everyday, teaching them how to recognize who they are, and teaching them to forgive,” she says. Reflecting on her former self, she says, “Whoever thought that I could teach people the right things in life?
Speaking about people who are on the street or struggling, she says, “I see my life through the women and men out there.” She says that she can help them because she’s lived what they’re living and once believed that she had no future. During her four years with Victory Outreach she says she has seen many women and men from the street, prison or broken homes grow into their own person and with the help of the church rebuild their families. “There are some powerful men and women who came out of these programs,” she asserts.
“Victory Outreach is not a religion, just people who have a relationship with God,” Tammy says. “They’re not a ministry that just sits back and goes to church and pays their tithes and say halleluiah – we’re a ministry that goes out there. People say there’s no help out there – there is lots of help,” she affirms.
As part of the ministry and her personal mission to help people, Tammy spends a lot of time on Oakland streets offering help to people. On July 1st, she is opening a home for women as an extension of Victory Outreach. It will be for people who want to leave life on the street, whether it’s drugs, prostitution or abuse. Though they receive donations of food and clothing for the women currently in their home, the need will be increasing greatly after July 1st. Transportation needs will be the most critical and they are open to a donation of a van or other solution.
As amazing as her life story is, Tammy doesn’t feel that her transformation is so special. “This can happen to anybody – you just have to be ready and willing,” she states.
Victory Outreach Oakland can be reached at 510-482-4656 or www.vooakland.org.