2020 Success Stories: William
On Wednesday, April 28th at 6pm, we invite you to join us virtually at our 30th Annual Graduation Ceremony. William is one of over 500 men we will celebrate for securing housing, obtaining employment, and earning professional certifications despite the enormous obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each person who comes to The Doe Fund has a unique set of circumstances. Some are trying to do the right thing and get a second chance after past mistakes. Others have simply fallen on hard times. Others still find themselves here because of a broken system.
For William, Ready, Willing & Able was a way to build on the progress he had made on his own. Unlike 71% of the men we serve, William has never been incarcerated. But drug addiction had begun to consume his life. After voluntarily entering rehab and completing detox, William wasn’t sure what to do next to continue his forward momentum.
“You get clean, but after that, then what? Life keeps going on,” said William. “I was 51 and thinking, ‘I can’t waste any more time.’ I didn’t just want to be clean for a month, two months, a year… and then go back to that lifestyle.”
Staff members at the rehab facility recommended William look into The Doe Fund. Soon after, he was suiting up as one of the Men in Blue, using immediate access to paid work to start rebuilding his savings.
William went into the program with an open mind. Ready, Willing & Able, in turn, gave him the tools he needed to turn his life around.
“I developed a healthy routine that I have to this day, and I just stayed with it. The Doe Fund helped me be persistent and consistent,” he told us. “All that pain is still there, but I don’t allow it to settle in me and turn into something else anymore.”
The community William found at The Doe Fund was also an enormous asset. In addition to the robust support network of case managers, mentors, and career coaches, William was helped by the friendships built with his fellow Men in Blue. “I loved everybody over there,” he said. “They were instrumental to my recovery.”
“When you’re using,” William continued, “you become very isolated, you turn people away. It’s a lonely way to live. And you think you’re the only one going through it. At The Doe Fund, I realized there are people just like me overcoming the same obstacles. Now, I allow people to help me, I reach out, I get honest. I’m not alone anymore.”
COVID-19 disrupted William’s plans to get his commercial driver’s license, after our Workforce Development programs closed in preparation to shift classes online. Still, the team helped him get his regular driver’s license and place him in a job.
William now works full-time as a driver for Amazon. “I’ve been here almost a year and a half now. It’s a solid job above minimum wage and I like what I do, so I’m sticking with it.”
Transportation and delivery are among the “pandemic-proof” sectors that our Workforce Development team has pivoted to in response to COVID-19, a shift that also led to the creation of a comprehensive remote learning infrastructure and a new skilled trades pre-apprenticeship program. For William and the hundreds of other graduates who have found employment as a result of these innovative adaptations—despite the pandemic’s devastating impact on the industries in which our graduates are most commonly placed—there’s reason for optimism.
“I’ve still got a long way to go,” he said. “But I can support myself. I have stability and a community that has my back. That’s a better path forward than I’ve ever had before.”
