Johnny Apodaca ended his 25-day hunger strike Thursday night after his health deteriorated to a point that family and care providers found alarming.

Begun on July 28, the hunger strike was an act of desperation to save two houses that shelter 12 men in drug and alcohol recovery. Apodaca pitched a tent at Silverado Trail and Evans Avenue, vowing to raise $350,000.

This dramatic gesture generated an outpouring of support, with 100s of people making small donations, while skeptics questioned what Apodaca was up to.

Interviewed Friday afternoon in the bedroom of his Lernhart Street home, a visibly weakened Apodaca emotionally declared his hunger strike a success.

Besides raising $70,000, his fast raised public awareness of his housing non-profit, Serenity Homes, and the plight of adults needing safe and sober homes for recovery, Apodaca said.

The $70,000 should be enough to pay off a loan on his recovery house at 1008 Evans Avenue, Apodaca said, while negotiations continue to save a second Serenity house at 1983 Lernhart Street. Serenity Homes has received a notice to vacate the Lernhart house by early October.

“We have our work to do,” said Kimberly Forbes, Apodaca’s fiancé who recently became his business manager.

What started 12 years ago as Apodaca’s personal crusade to help addicts and alcoholics — then became a fledgling non-profit three years ago — needs to mature into a better-organized agency that can compete for government and private grants, Forbes said.

Serenity Homes will be recruiting a more activist board of directors with business savvy and community connections, while working on a plan for financial sustainability, she said.

“Johnny and I can’t live this way any longer,” Forbes said. Even though she and Apodaca were volunteering their time to run the five-home organization, it was losing money, with rents not covering housing expenses, she said.

“I basically lost everything trying to help people,” Apodaca said. He ruined his credit rating in recent times to keep Serenity Homes in operation, he said. In July, his truck was briefly repossessed.

Apodaca, a 50-year-old former addict, choked with emotion when he talked about the more than 400 adults that Serenity Homes has sheltered over the years.

“When I see those 400 people and the funerals I’ve been to, I think it’s stupid (that this discussion) is about money, not human life,” he said.

Judy Bickell is the local mortgage lender who helped finance the two houses that Apodaca was in danger of losing. On Friday, Bickell said she was glad the hunger strike was over. “I’m happy that he’s safe and he’ll get his health back,” she said.

It is also good news that Apodaca may have raised enough money to pay off her note on the Evans house, Bickell said.

Bickell said she expected to meet with Apodaca and his attorney in coming days to talk about the Lernhart house. “I’m a pretty generous person,” she said, but she still wants to pull her money out.

Apodaca was put on notice a year and a half ago of her desire, she said.

Bickell said she still believes in the social value of Serenity Homes. “They do a wonderful job for the community,” she said.

Apodaca’s hunger strike generated several stories in The Register as well as local radio and TV coverage, but Bay Area media never came out, robbing the event of needed publicity, Apodaca said.

Metro papers and TV stations were wary about covering one man’s hunger strike at a time when “thousands of families are losing their homes everyday,” Forbes said.

News directors also didn’t want to cross the line between “reporting a hunger strike and promoting a hunger strike,” she said.

Apodaca said he lost 44 pounds, dropping from 206 to 162 pounds. By the end, he was weak as a kitten, with cramps in his arms and chest, he said.

“I think I took it to the door,” he said. “I came home to my family to heal.”

After 25 days of subsisting on honeyed water and lemon juice served with a dash of cayenne pepper, Apodaca said it will take days for his digestive system to restore itself.

His first meal Thursday night consisted of strawberry Jell-O, chicken broth and vanilla ice cream. By today, he hoped to be able to handle pasta.

Apodaca described the hunger fast as “the strongest thing I ever did.” Besides raising money and awareness of his program, the fast was a “spiritual cleansing,” he said.

“I will soon be back on my feet. I’ll be back in the trenches,” he said. “Now that people know who we are, I believe angels will come forward to help Serenity Homes.”