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Sac Sheriff's Dept. helps homeless man get clean and off the street

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department recently helped a homeless man off the street with their homeless outreach team. It's a new program that started in 2018. The man they helped is closing one chapter and starting a new one.

Carmichael, Calif. — The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department recently helped a homeless man off the street with their homeless outreach team. It's a new program that started in 2018.

The man they helped, 54-year-old Todd Lewis, is closing one chapter and starting a new one.

"I was on the street for at least four years. I had a good job. I had a place to live. One day from work I stopped at the wrong person's house and I disappeared," Lewis said.

Lewis fell into addiction and was living behind the Goodwill in Carmichael.

"I was still hooked on meth and I decided I wanted to quit and change my life," Lewis said.

Lewis prayed and the next day his prayers were answered. A Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy with the Homeless Outreach Team asked Lewis if he wanted to get clean.

"'Mr. Lewis, can you give us a clean test right now?' And I said, 'No, I can't.' And they said they'll be back in seven days to pick you up," Lewis said about the conversation with the deputy.

Sure enough, the deputy came back and took him to detox with Volunteers of America, and now, Lewis is living the life he always wanted.

"It blows my mind where I'm at. I've got a car. I hadn't had a drivers license in 10 years. I have insurance. I have a job. I have money saved up," he said.

Lewis has not had a sip of alcohol in 500 days and he's been completely clean for 200.

"Here I am now some few hundred days later. And life is beautiful. I feel like I'm falling in love with sobriety all over again, you know?" Lewis said with a smile.

Looking back on where he was, Lewis knows where he is now, is what he wanted all along.

"I want to leave a good note, I want to be known as he was happy, he was painting and he was doing good to the community," Lewis said

To learn more about the homeless outreach team, click here.

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