Heading into my office building here on campus, a voice yelled, “Pastor Gary!” I turned as a young man and young lady came across the street to speak with me.
It was Kevin who graduated from here in 2006. He looks young now, so he must have been really young when he was here!
Kevin arrived at Helping Up Mission in 2005 with a drug problem and joined our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program. Always a friendly and smiling guy, he settled in and made the most of his time here.
Admittedly, that was the old buildings – before we had finished purchasing and renovating all the buildings of our campus here in East Baltimore. Things were pretty spartan back then, but Kevin was just appreciative of anything he received.
After finishing our 1-year program, he continued living here in graduate transitional housing, finally moving out that next year. At that point I completely lost track of him.
But this morning, there he was – on his way to work, and looking good! Kevin expressed gratitude for all he received here and told the young lady with him how much we had helped him when he needed it.
Then they was gone – to catch the Light Rail in time for work.
It was great seeing him again…and even better seeing he was clean, employed, happy and grateful! Man, I love my job!
One Guy at a Time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director