From Rags to Riches.
San Antonio, Texas: Junkie Tracts c/o Fred Garcia, [circa 1970s]. 6 ” x 4¼”. Small bifolium, printed all four sides. Pp. [4]. Very good minus: creased at old folds; light edgewear and soiling.
This is an unrecorded pamphlet written by a former heroin addict and prisoner who found salvation through the ministry of another who had escaped the same fate. Both men, “Pancho” Tristan and Freddie Garcia, fostered the recovery of dozens in San Antonio, Texas, through guidance and the word of God.
Pastor Freddie Garcia was born in 1938 and met his wife Ninfa in 1963. Garcia was an addict and the couple lived on the streets. After turning to religion in 1967, Garcia graduated from the Latin American Bible Institute in La Puente, California, then returned to San Antonio intent on helping other users change their lives. The Garcias took addicts into their home, launching Victory Outreach Ministry in 1970; 20 years later they were bestowed an Achievement Against the Odds award by President Bush at the White House. In 2005 they opened New Victory Fellowship, a modern drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, and they wrote a best-selling book, Outcry in the Barrio, in 1988. Freddie died in 2009 at the age of 71.
This little pamphlet advertises Garcia's home ministry and line of “Junkie tracts. It tells Frank “Pancho” Tristan's story (with his 1971 mugshot on the cover), who “had been a drug addict for 34 years of my life! All I knew was 'doing time' in some penal institution or another. I didn't know any other way that I could live!” Tristan goes on to praise “Freddie Garcia's Victory Outreach Home for Addicts” (as well as Jesus Christ) and urges others to follow in his path. As of 2025 Tristan was still clean and grateful, running Fresh Oil Ministries in San Antonio, aiming “To bring the good news to the poor, to comfort the broken hearted, to bring freedom to the captive and the opening of prison doors.”
Rare and heart-rending ephemera revealing the efforts of former addicts and prisoners to help others break their chains. Not located in OCLC or online. Very good -. Item #7602
Price: $150.00