By Anne Levin

Illustrations by Jorge Naranjo

Lanky and energetic with an engaging smile, Rodney Hargis exudes confidence. The pony-tailed North Carolina native is an analyst with MercerOnline at his alma mater, Mercer County Community College. At his graduation in 2009, he delivered the commencement speech. In his free time, he sings and plays guitar, mostly at gigs with his wife, a drummer and bass player, at a Grovers Mill coffeehouse. Life is good. But a decade ago, it was a different story. Hargis was addicted to drugs and alcohol. “I had been in and out of jail and had really reached bottom,” he says. “I was on the streets. I had a beat-up guitar and the clothes on my back, and that was it.” Now 43, Hargis is sitting in an office at The Rescue Mission in Trenton, the place he credits with saving his life. Between 2004 and 2006, he lived at the brick complex on gritty Carroll Street, getting himself clean and learning how to make the most of his young life. “I came here looking for a roof over my head,” he recalls. “I’d given up everything to my addiction. They took me in, and I lived in the shelter. I did work therapy—computer stuff, scheduling the trucks, taking calls, whatever they needed—and that gave me the foundation to move ahead.” more