“I just wanted to do something different and do something I felt like I was contributing instead of just waiting on the public in a retail job”

“My childhood pediatrician, who is 90, is still in great shape, got a great mind. He practiced here in Nashville for 50 years. 56 years and he never had one malpractice claim, never one complaint. 56 years. All the way through my [Medical Assisting Associate's degree] I would call and ask him. He said, ‘One thing you wanna do is when you go to one room and you deal with a patient, you don’t ever want to carry over what happened in one room to the other.’ He said ‘You have to forget that. That’s a mistake physicians and people in general make, they carry something over in one to the next.’”

“This thing here *points to his phone with the Indeed app open* wore me out. I had 19 responses to my resume. But it’s pretty good. I’ve got it on the medical, not the hospitality part. I’ve got my medical assisting, internship, all my education and skills, all the way through, all my certifications and licenses. I got the Dean’s List and the President’s List four times. My cumulative GPA was 3.55. My last degree was in ‘85. So thirty-plus years [before going back to school]. They used to take a certificate, now they almost all want the degree. It was definitely worth it.”

“Even at the age of 13 I had a draw to help others… I think it was my upbringing. Both my mother and my father. My mother still will take over any service project and make it her own and be the first person there and last person out. And my dad, I can vividly remember, the floods in Mississippi where he went down with the red cross and laid sandbags for a levy, and [the water] got to the top of the levy but did not spill over. The entire town was saved because of the efforts of all those individuals, and I remember him coming back and just sharing that with me. That was one of the first [moments I thought], ‘I want to have a story like that. I want to be a part of a story of salvation, in a lot of ways, not only spiritual, but just being able to play some role of empowering somebody to reach their full potential.’”

“I think my ‘sandbag moment’ was when I first came to CCF and God brought a family in alongside me, a family of 6 living in their vehicle, just trying to survive. I got to see myself in the father and how he was struggling with self-worth and purpose and how I would do the same in my own life. Being able to understand that and then to come alongside them, because that’s what’s amazing is sometimes it’s not the huge, programmatic vision. Sometimes it’s just sitting down and having a conversation like you and I. So sitting down with them on a daily basis, them and their family, and walking them through this journey of living in their car and going from that point to, through all of our partners, to where they were housed, he was working full-time, the family was in school. Just that impact and that growth process that we both went through together. That was the very first ‘sandbag moment’ of ‘this is what it’s all about,’ being able to empower individuals that are ready to move out of this place that they’ve come to. And how you begin to understand that it could be any of us. It wasn’t by any fault of their own. Once you take that time to hear somebody’s story, it changes everything.”

“I got hit by a car. I guess I didn’t see her. I don’t remember it. I had a lacerated bladder, I had a walker, I couldn't get around. My back is messed up. It’s another incident in my book, that one day I will write.”

“I made myself be fine, that walker was hectic. I just told myself I’m gonna do it. Either that or depend on a walker or cane the rest of my life. I was supposed to go back to the doctor and they’re gonna check it. But I have been back to [a local emergency room] a couple times, and they’re saying, ‘whatever you’re doing, you’re doing good’ cuz it’s healing. I feel a lot better.”

“I’m actually working on some things. I got my ID from the state, and the hard copy comes and then I’m gonna get my social security card and then I can get a job. I used to do CNA work, I’d like to do that again. Certified Nursing Assistant.”

“I mean me and my husband have been together for 31 years. High school sweethearts. Six beautiful children. My husband thought I was gonna leave him when he had the stroke, I mean God had brought us a long way. A very long way. It is so hard out here and nobody knows how it is."

"My kids are grown, I just became a grandma. My daughter turned 18 October the 16th. I had my first grandbaby October the 16th on her 18th birthday. And my grandbaby is 100% blind… how he tells who we are, he [touches] the face and [hears] our voice… I didn’t want to be a grandma because of the situation that I’m in. I’m homeless, I’m out here on the streets. I’m not gonna be able to see my grandbaby like I should… and then my husband being locked up, and worried about him… he’s been in there 4 months. We got married when we were 17. Started having kids when I was 16 and just continued to have kids after kids after kids after kids and then we had 6 beautiful ones. I have 4 living, I have 2 deceased."

"So, I mean it’s just hard because you ain’t got people out here who are willing to help. You have nobody that you can sit and talk to. I got so stressed out and had so much pain in my heart… I’m five days clean. I’m doing good, I’m trying to straighten up my life before my husband gets out because he’s not able to work to take care of me, but he’s worked all of his life, the whole 31 years that we’ve been together, to take care of me."

"It’s just hard. I’m proud of myself, but it’s like I can’t get ahead. It’s like it’s backing me up instead of me going forward. And I ask God to forgive me for my sins. I went to church yesterday, it felt good. I sat there crying the whole time, but I felt so good when I walked up out of there, it was amazing.”

“I was a recovering alcohol and drug addict, and I was on the verge of being homeless. Just quit doing what I was doing and changed my circle of friends. When I started working here I was looking at the guests like ‘that could have been me,’ if I hadn’t changed my ways, and that really inspired me to help them more and almost get the feeling of them, what they’re going through and their struggles.”

“It was 1999 when I started. I started working custodial work and then 3 years later, the kitchen manager moved, and so they asked me if I’d like to take over the kitchen. I said ‘sure’ and I’ve been doing it ever since. 19 years later.”

“When I got divorced and I started staying with my mom, [my wife] knew what I was doing and she didn’t want any part of that, drugging and alcoholism. That was my rock bottom. Staying with other people. That wasn’t me. When I started working here, it was like the Lord just said, ‘It’s time for a change.’ Look at the man in the mirror.”

“When I worked here I was still doing what I was doing but then a year later, I was looking at the people coming through these doors, looking at them struggling, and I was like, ‘I got to change my ways.’ It was just a calling for me. I had to get my license back because I got a DUI. I was listening to other people’s stories. One guy had almost killed himself in a car accident by him drinking and driving. All of that stuck in my head. I had to be clean for those 16 weeks. After I finished that, I was like, ‘Hey, I can do without it.’ Like I said, I changed my circle of friends and got around positive people. And that really changed my life. It was a struggle, but hey, I did it.”

“I know a lot of guys that come in here and are doing really well now just because of this place. It reminds me of myself, what I was going through. I was telling them, ‘Look man, I’ve been there and done that, and you can come out of it. It’s really nothing good about that. You always broke, you don’t have money because you’re spending it all on drugs and alcohol. Be somebody, not just a statistic.’ I look to be as a role model to them. I don’t steer them in the wrong direction, I try to tell them positive things from what I’ve been through and stuff.”

“I ain’t got quite a social life yet, and it’s kind of embarrassing, well, to me it is. I guess because I’m a little bit old fashioned. You know when you want to be with an opposite gender person and, you know, maybe have a relationship with and stuff, and you’re like “Oh, I work! I got some money, baby, we can go out!” “Nah, can I come over to your place, or are we going here?” and... I don’t know how I’m trying to seem without seeming so meager-like."

"When you have a relationship with somebody, okay we’re going to eat some good food and we’re gonna go see the arts and the ballet or whatever and 'okay, well, bye!’ ‘Well why can’t I come over to your place?’ 'Well… you gotta walk through the woods to get there.' [I want] to have a rapport with somebody, and I have basically no normality about my existence right now."

"I’m comfortable with myself, but I’m not comfortable with someone else having to live like I’m living right now because it’s… almost cave-manish or womanish to be like this in this area, this society, this time that we’re living in."

“I’ve lived everywhere between living underneath the bridge, waking up with flip flops and a pair of shorts, to not “super rich” but comfortable. Actually, you’re one of the few people I’ve talked to this long and this much about my life.”

"There’s not really that much danger out here, as much as people would think... Being under bridges or wherever you have to be at, it’s not dangerous. There’s more danger of somebody else “normal” being “Go get a job!” or something like that... that kind of hateful, Grinch-y demeanor. Like I was over there one day just before Christmas and had a sign that said “Help me have an Xmas” or something like that. And the guy said “Nobody cares!” “Wow! Okay, Grinch. God cares. God still loves you anyway, have a blessed day.” There’s people like that though."