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Saved from the streets Pat Postler left a life of drugs and prostitution five years ago. Now, she regularly returns to the darkest corners of Elgin to help others find the strength to save themselves.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Christine Byers Daily Herald Staff Writer

Pat Postler wants to believe her, but she knows better.

The woman's pleas for money to buy a bus ticket so she can return to her family seem sincere. Her story about falling on hard times could be credible.

But Pat is one step ahead of this woman, whom she met just an hour ago in the basement of an Elgin church that sometimes doubles as a homeless shelter for the night.

Pat buys her the ticket the next day - but makes it nonrefundable.

A few days later, Pat visits the bus station and the ticket agent tells her the woman tried to trade in her ticket for cash.

Pat's intuition about the woman is more than just a feeling.

It's experience.

"She thought she had me," Pat says, shooting a smile that quickly flattens out. "But she doesn't know that I've already told just about every lie out there."

The lying began for Pat when she started covering for a relative who molested her 42 years ago when she was 10 years old.

It continued for most of her life, which has included three ex- husbands, one of whom nearly killed her, and a decade of drug abuse and prostitution.

But about five years ago - after a fateful night not long before in an Elgin church - Pat stopped deceiving others and, more importantly, herself.

She now dedicates her life to helping those facing the same demons she once tried to escape by smoking crack and using just about any other drug she could get her hands on.

Sometimes that means driving someone to court. Or visiting the homeless shelters where she once stayed to donate items they need. Sometimes it's simply offering an empathetic shoulder to cry on.

"I am not recovering," she says before walking into Wayside Christian Ministries in Elgin. "I am healed."

An addiction begins

When...