Monument planned to honor Lake Twp. woman missing for 11 years

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New Belgium beer hits shelves at Pennsylvania bars, restaurants

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Shawn Pratt remembers a trip to an emergency room in 2010.</p><p>Homeless and having passed out in a supermarket after overdosing on heroin, he ended up in a hospital room in Rockford, Illinois.</p><p>Moving to Illinois from Northeast Pennsylvania as a geographical cure for his life problems hadn&#8217;t worked out.</p><p>A doctor on staff in the facility, with both insight and concern, delayed Pratt&#8217;s exit from the facility.</p><p>&#8220;He ordered dinner for me,&#8221; said Pratt. &#8220;It included every single item on the menu.&#8221;</p><p>At the end of the day, the doctor presented Pratt with a ticket back to Scranton, near his hometown of Archbald.</p><p>&#8220;There is only one thing that I ask,&#8221; said the doctor, &#8220;that you pray with me.&#8221;</p><p>Like many others who have struggled and overcome adversity, Pratt credits the concern of one person with changing his life.</p><p>&#8220;Just the day before I had stood up and given my life to Christ at a church service,&#8221; he said. &#8220;God had a plan.&#8221;</p><p>Looking back on hunger, addiction and several incidents of homelessness, Pratt avoids placing blame.</p><p>His early life was &#8220;pretty normal,&#8221; he said, and included drinking in high school and entering the U.S. Marine Corps.</p><p>Pratt said he didn&#8217;t do very well in school simply because he was selfish.</p><p>Today, at 38, he aims to live his life as unselfishly as possible.</p><p>Married and the father of two, Pratt looks back on his journey from broken to blessed with a spirit of gratitude and a commitment to service.</p><p><strong>A look back</strong></p><p>After returning from military service in 2001, Pratt said his life began to spiral out of control.</p><p>Although outwardly he began to accrue things he thought would make him happy: a relationship, a home, a good job, he still wasn&#8217;t truly happy.</p><p>After an injury, he was prescribed opiate pain medication that led to a heroin addiction. He also abused prescription Xanax.</p><p>It was then that Pratt stopped going to work and started losing the things he had gathered since his discharge from the service.</p><p>Still, he believes God has a plan.</p><p>The day spent in the emergency room didn&#8217;t mark the end of Pratt&#8217;s addiction and homelessness, but it did mark the beginning of the end.</p><p>Arriving home with a new found commitment to his Christian faith, he entered the Keystone Rescue Mission Alliance&#8217;s Life Change Program in 2011 ready to learn a better way of life.</p><p>The program taught him a sense of responsibility, accountability and purpose. Through daily Bible study, community service and volunteering, he was able to view his life as valuable and God-given.</p><p>In 2013 when he graduated from the program, he had served as an intern and a resident assistant, had an apartment, a vehicle and a job.</p><p>Motivated by faith and equipped with biblical principles he had learned, he was able to make good decisions, with the continuing support of the Mission, his church and the community.</p><p>A committed member of City Light Church, he is grateful for the opportunity it provides him to serve others while continuing to grow in his faith.</p><p>He credits the church&#8217;s pastor Jacob Johnson with providing solid leadership, spiritual guidance and fostering positive relationships among members.</p><p><strong>New beginnings</strong></p><p>Pratt, who married his wife Rebekah in 2014, is a father to Hunter, born earlier this year, and son Isaiah,10. He said being a husband and a father provides an overwhelming impetus to continue to live unselfishly.</p><p>&#8220;Looking forward, I want to take care of my family and raise my kids properly,&#8221; said Pratt, now a Kingston resident. &#8220;I want to be a part of my local church and I want to help people in the same situation that I was in.&#8221;</p><p>Once selfish, Pratt now readily offers his time and services to others.</p><p>Proud to be a full staff member at the mission, he assists in oversight of the Wilkes-Barre site&#8217;s Life Change program.</p><p>He said the program is unique in that it fully prepares its graduates for success, insuring they have jobs, budgeting skills, a home church and an understanding of their value before God.</p><p>The building, located on Parkview Circle off Coal Street, serves as a home base area of that program and other areas of ministry.</p><p>Despite its location at the foot of the Sherman Hills Apartment Complex, an area known for crime and violence, the Mission continues to remain a safe haven for those in need and has been without major incidents.</p><p>&#8220;If Jesus came to Wilkes-Barre, he would come here (to Sherman Hills),&#8221; said Pratt. &#8220;This is where people need the most help and often are reaching out for it.&#8221;</p><p>Wednesday night often finds him at his church home group, sometimes leading a discussion on biblical principles, often sharing a laugh with those he now calls friends, always finishing with dessert.</p><p>His work as a youth leader also provides opportunities for teaching, for fellowship, for laughter.</p><p>Having moved from a life of selfishness to one of service, Pratt said, life is now good.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Shawn Pratt sits in the common of the Wyoming Valley Rescue Mission where he was once a client and now serves as a staff member. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL090415HomelessFollowUp3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Shawn Pratt sits in the common of the Wyoming Valley Rescue Mission where he was once a client and now serves as a staff member. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_11997404_10204921481780826_1885540461_n3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Shawn Pratt, gathered with wife Rebekah, and sons Hunter, 6 months, and Isaiah, 10, has rebounded from homelessness. He credits his faith, good direction and hard work with the life change. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_11997404_10204921481780826_1885540461_n3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Shawn Pratt, gathered with wife Rebekah, and sons Hunter, 6 months, and Isaiah, 10, has rebounded from homelessness. He credits his faith, good direction and hard work with the life change. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Geri Gibbons</p><p>ggibbons@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLGGibbons</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Kind doctor encouraged Kingston man to turn his life around