I was born on a small town in Cleveland, OK, and grew up on a farm. It was not an easy life, and I dropped out of high school my senior year. Throughout my childhood, I watched as family and friends abused drugs and alcohol.

These early experiences led me to a life of crime and imprisonment. After a long period of drug abuse and bouncing in and out of jail and prison, I was charged in 1979 with armed robbery, and convicted and sentenced to 99 years. In June 2010, I was paroled after serving 32 years in prison.

Upon my arrival at a halfway house in Oklahoma City, I began to look for work and sought the assistance of the Job Connections center at Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma. With the help of Goodwill’s Linda Wilson, I began to re-enter the world of work by pulling together my first-ever résumé and e-mail address.

Linda also encouraged me to apply for the new recycling technician training program at Goodwill, which I got into. Having been out of the job market and society, I felt out of sync with the world and out of practice in the job market. During the month-long recycling technician training, I was able to improve my communication skills, get a feel for my strengths and weaknesses, and a better direction for my job search. The course also provided me with a steady wage while I was transitioning back into the community.

Upon graduation from the recycling technician training program, I worked for a short time at Goodwill as a donation attendant, and then I was quickly hired by the restaurant chain Braum’s Inc. as a maintenance engineer. As an engineer, my duties involve preventative maintenance and repair of bakery equipment, including ovens, conveyors, packaging machines, refrigeration equipment and other equipment requiring general maintenance and repair.

I am so happy to be making money and working on machines. I’ve turned my life around, and I couldn’t be happier.