Quote:
Originally Posted by Icehouse
Well, here is my story of "Paying It Forward" - the condensed version
I have a degree in IT. I made a small fortune in IT back during the DotCom boom. Working from home and having WAY too much money was my ultimate demise.
I nearly drank myself to death.
So, when my head finally cleared in 2012-ish I started to volunteer at a Community Centre in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I quickly became the building manager which included: opening, closing, food prep, cleaning, shoveling snow, trimming bushes, painting, plumbing, electrical work and ?. I am a jack-of-all-trades so this was an easy task. A weekly recovery meeting was dropped in my lap and I became the "head" of it to my dismay. I still am the "head" of this group to this day, it just stuck.
This led to me creating resumes, job development and placement for recently released inmates and the homeless and I then became known around town as "The guy that gets felons jobs".
I was offered a position at a local non-profit (which I accepted) and became even more well-known.
Now I work in the prison system, have received awards, have helped hundreds find jobs and have kept dozens of people from going back to the drink.
BUT, I am just a simple guy. I do NOT like the spotlight, I drive a 25 year old wagon, live in 400 sqft, and look like a "bum" on weekends with my green hoodie and ripped jeans.
I love what I am, what I do, and where I am going.
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Thank you so much for sharing you experience strength and hope and are not in the least ashamed
As you should never be
It take courage to change the things we cannot change
This is where I find myself getting sucked into taking my will back
I can suggest but must stop falling apart when my addict children fall off the wagon
This not about me
But your service to others
Just recently shared how lost in this cruel world I am
Fact not fiction
As I too give my all as it is the truth I choose to live in
How comfortable you must be in your ripped jeans and hoodie
And who ever judges one by their looks and status isn’t anyone I want to associate myself with
To give freely is receiving rewards beyond understanding
For in it you experience the joy of watching one take the steps necessary
Hats off my to you
Keep yourself healthy
Keeping it REAL
NEVER SUGAR COATING IT
as my boy says to me just not to long ago
I’m not as strong as you ar mom
(My choice of drug alcohol)
I tell my boy
What make you think it will power
I take it on day at a time
IT IS A “CHOICE”
period
So keep it real dear friend
As I worked in my tow in the EMS division
Many time I needed to put those who wold pick up drunks
And they would refer to them as EDP’s
Emotionally Disturbed Person
How that hit a nerve
This is when I had the opportunity to teach
“Nobody sets out to become a drunk or addict”
“I doesn’t discriminate”
Not a word ever in front of me when they returned from a job
Thank you for keeping it
ALIVE
IT IS SO OUT OF CONTROL
My story to follow
Love
Me