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When he got out last year, the child he had said goodbye to was now a woman of 26 with children of her own. Father and daughter are smiling as they talk, but when Freddie says, “There were things she went through, and I wasn’t there for her. I know that’s true,” Shonda stops smiling and just rests her head on his shoulder.
While he was still in prison, he heard about Chattanooga Endeavors. At first he was skeptical. “But Endeavors is different,” he says. “Endeavors never said ‘no’ to me. They fought for me. Beth would get up at four in the morning to drive me to work. Endeavors was there for me at my lowest point.”
It took time and perseverance to become the man he is now, but he has a full-time job, attends church and is happy.
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“You’ve got to want it,” he says. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It took me a year to get this job.” He remembers walking in the rain from Parkridge to CEI’s downtown office. “I needed it.”
He doesn’t judge people who still live the life he turned away from. “I understand why people break the law. I understand that they don’t have money. But you don’t have to steal. There are alternatives. There’s help available if you’re willing. My family opened their arms to me, and I had Endeavors.”
As he speaks, the sun is shining through the changing leaves, and his daughter is smiling again. |
