Eddie now focuses on doing the right thing
Like many young boys Eddie’s choices were determined by his parents. He lived with his Mom and Dad until they divorced when he was eight. Eddie remained with his mother, but everything changed when his Mom remarried a couple of years later.
Eddie’s stepfather drank a lot. “He was pretty nice when he was drinking,” said Eddie, “but he was angry and mean when he was sober.” Eddie didn’t have many options, so he endured the situation until he was 15. Then, Eddie went to stay with his uncle in Philadelphia for the summer.
They worked at a horseracing track and lived in a tack room on the backside. Eddie took his first drink of alcohol that summer. It was just beer, but he believes it paved the way for other bad decisions like dropping out of high school, smoking marijuana and eventually trying crack cocaine.
Left: Eddie speaks to a group of girls at a Sacred Heart retreat
“It really made me feel great. It was an emotional rush. It put me into a different zone,” he said. “But crack messes with your mind. You want it so bad that it makes you want to steal and rob people. You don’t want to go to work. You just want to get more crack. It just overwhelmed me and took control of my life for about 10 years.”
Eventually, Eddie went back to Louisville and got a job driving a garbage truck. He began drinking heavily, even on the job. One of Eddie’s co-workers convinced him to tell his boss and seek help. Eddie eventually got into a rehab progrm but unfortunately it wasn’t long before crack beckoned him back.
When Eddie tried to go back home his mother dished out some tough love. She packed up all of Eddie’s belongings and drove him to a homeless shelter. “Mom wanted to teach me a lesson. She told me if I was going to live like this I was going to wind up on the streets,” explained Eddie. While his addiction eventually lead to homelessness, it also brought him to St. John Center and a new lease on life.
“I love this place,” said Eddie of St. John Center. “It’s cleaner and safer than most shelters. I like being able to take a shower. The staff and volunteers always treat you with respect. I don’t think any other shelter does as much for the homeless as St. John Center.”
Housing case manager Sarah Scheibe helped Eddie get an apartment through the Samaritan Project and Kentucky Housing Corporation. He moved in April 8. “I’m absolutely ecstatic,” beamed Eddie. “Privacy is very important to me and now I have a place of my own. I know I can do what’s right and I’m trying to do the right things. Having this apartment makes me feel like a normal person. It gives me self esteem.”
Now clean and sober for about five months, Eddie is making other good choices. His mother, who passed away at 51 in 1994, always wanted her son to graduate from high school. To honor his mother’s wishes, Eddie working on getting his GED with the hope that he will be able to get another job. He is also pursuing a CDL license so he’ll be able to drive large trucks.
As a housing client, St. John Center provides Eddie with a monthly bus pass to assist him in applying for jobs and attending GED and job training classes. Sarah also sees to it that Eddie receives periodic home visits and life skills instruction. She has already taken him grocery shopping to show him how to get the most out of his food stamps.
Eddie has learned from his mistakes and offers this advice to young people. “Stay in school and focus on doing what is right. Think about the consequences of the decisions you make. They may not seem very important at the moment, but they can have a huge impact on your life,” he cautioned.