“Get busy dwelling or get busy dying.”
These phrases by movie character Andy Dufresne in “The Shawshank Redemption” are what saved one displaced veteran going as he made a 30-mile trek on foot throughout south Georgia — as he looked for work and assist to reclaim his life.
“Someplace alongside the road, that popped into my thoughts,” U.S. Military veteran Brian Taylor, 59, advised Fox Information Digital.
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“I’m not holding up no signal. I simply can’t try this. I desire a job. I need to work. It’s pleasure, I suppose. I do not actually need to be on no authorities dole. I do not need to be on anyone’s dole however my very own. I need to work.”
Taylor left the Military in 1983 and has confronted private challenges, together with dropping his mom and in addition dropping his spouse and youngsters as a result of selections he made involving alcohol, he mentioned.
Marge Shaw (left) and Evelyn Pensgard (proper) of the Thomasville Neighborhood Profession Heart in Thomasville, Georgia, welcomed displaced veteran Brian Taylor (heart) after he traveled 30 miles on foot to get a job. (Goodwill Profession Heart, Thomasville, Ga.)
Taylor mentioned he misplaced his approach and bounced across the nation, however all the time managed to seek out work, whether or not at a paint and physique store, campground or comfort retailer.
“I labored in a grocery retailer,” Taylor mentioned. “I’ve painted. I’ve simply achieved a number of jobs. There’s actually not an excessive amount of that I can not do.”
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Taylor mentioned he’s by no means felt like he deserved to make use of his veteran’s advantages — and that he’s been homeless since 1999.
“I simply drifted off,” he mentioned. “My life was in turmoil.”
When his time ran out on the place of a pal the place he was staying in Ohio earlier this fall, that was a turning level for him, Taylor mentioned.
“I didn’t need to spend the winter in Ohio,” Taylor mentioned.
After Taylor left the Military in 1983, he confronted private challenges. He has lived all around the nation and labored a number of jobs. (iStock)
He bought an outdated automobile he owned and purchased a bus ticket to Valdosta, Georgia.
However his cash ran out — and in mid-September, he hit Freeway 84 to Thomasville, the place he had as soon as discovered work 5 years in the past.
“The primary day I walked 10 miles and received caught in a single hell of a rainstorm,” Tyler mentioned.
“I discovered a constructing off the aspect of the street. I had my tarp and made a cover, and so I slept and received up the subsequent day and walked about 12 miles. I by no means put my thumb out. I simply walked.”
As he trekked alongside, Taylor mentioned he was fascinated by his life and the way he might probably get issues again collectively.
Exhausted, Taylor stopped for his third evening on the street.
“I used to be fairly nicely burnt out,” he mentioned. “So I slept the evening within the woods. I received [eaten] up by skeeter bugs and by ants.”
Taylor mentioned he was fascinated by his life and the way he might probably get issues again collectively.
The subsequent day, Taylor walked one other 12 miles till he stumbled on a church in a city simply outdoors of Thomasville, he mentioned.
“There was a bit of church off to the left-hand aspect and I noticed a few individuals there. I used to be simply beat. I imply, I felt like I used to be close to demise.”
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Taylor mentioned a person, who turned out to be the preacher of that church, stopped and provided him assist and in addition a trip.
“We stopped at McDonald’s and he received me one thing to eat,” Taylor mentioned.
“He requested the place I used to be going and I advised him I wished to go to the Goodwill Retailer in Thomasville. So, he drove me there and I went inside. They have been doing interviews and a girl requested if I used to be there for an interview. I mentioned, ‘I suppose I’m now.’”
Seen here’s a Goodwill retailer. Across the nation there are Goodwill Profession Facilities that help individuals with job searches, constructing interview expertise, writing a resume and extra. (Don and Melinda Crawford/UCG/Common Pictures Group through Getty Pictures)
He arrived in Thomasville on Sept. 18 — and inside 5 minutes of being in Thomasville, Taylor mentioned he had a job interview with out even realizing it.
“It was destiny,” Taylor mentioned. “Or God’s hand.”
Taylor was then related with the Thomasville Neighborhood Profession Heart on the town — and a girl named Marge Shaw welcomed him with open arms.
“He was drained,” Shaw, a Goodwill profession steerage counselor, advised Fox Information Digital.
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“The day earlier than he received right here, I believe, there was an enormous rainstorm. He mentioned he discovered an deserted home or one thing and that he dodged the storm by staying there after which completed the stroll right here.”
Taylor mentioned Shaw provided him a cup of espresso and a spot to assemble himself.
The ladies of the Goodwill Profession Heart took him underneath their wings.
“We’re funded by Goodwill and what we do is we assist individuals get jobs,” Shaw mentioned.
She added, “And the best way we helped Brian was that we assist them create skilled resumes and we do interview prep. We assist individuals with on-line functions, and we even have a community of group employers.”
Shaw mentioned she and her crew on the Georgia-based Goodwill Profession Heart will assist individuals write skilled resumes as they search the proper job. (iStock)
That is how Shaw’s crew helped Taylor get a job on the native Meals Lion grocery retailer.
“Lots of occasions, our individuals are available with obstacles to getting work,” Shaw mentioned.
“Issues that we take without any consideration, like a $13 background verify. A pair of black pants and no skid sneakers. What I do is I work by completely different companies within the city and native donors to assist meet these wants.”
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Taylor credit the ladies on the profession heart for getting him heading in the right direction in order that he might then take cost of his future.
“They helped me do all of the resumes and stuff, to not point out the corporate and the kindness,” Taylor mentioned. “However then I did all of the legwork.”
Thomasville has a community of group servants, from the oldsters at New Covenant Church, who helped Taylor get a tent to sleep in and a motorbike to trip to work, to a bunch referred to as Consuming Fireplace Ministries, which offers meals to the homeless.
A Goodwill retailer signal. The ladies of the Goodwill Profession Heart took Taylor underneath their wings and helped set him up for job success. (Schooling Pictures/Common Pictures Group through Getty Pictures)
“It is only a blessing,” mentioned Shaw, who has been a recipient of group assist herself.
“I’ve been by my very own difficulties and I am a really faith-filled individual. I simply really feel like God has put me on this place the place I may help others due to what I have been by.”
At some point, Taylor mentioned he stopped on the Meals Lion and talked to the supervisor, who set him up with an interview. He crammed out all of the paperwork and waited just a few days.
“If my story may help another person, then that’s good.”
He received employed and has already moved up within the ranks.
“I began out in sanitation,” Taylor mentioned. “Then, after the third day, they requested me if I would prefer to strive one thing else and be cross-trained. I mentioned, ‘Certain.’”
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Taylor mentioned he handed that take a look at and the subsequent day, he was entrusted with some work to do on his personal.
He’s been working at Meals Lion for a month now — and has negotiated a schedule that permits him to be off a minimum of each different Sunday to go to the church he’s been attending, New Covenant.
Taylor mentioned he credit the ladies of the Goodwill Profession Heart for serving to him together with his job search. (Goodwill Profession Heart, Thomasville, Ga./iStock)
“They’re great individuals,” Taylor mentioned.
“No strain. I’ve even volunteered to do yard work for them, and so they find yourself paying me, despite the fact that I advised them they do not need to.”
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Presently, Taylor mentioned he’s nonetheless dwelling in a tent.
“I am attempting to get housing, nevertheless it simply takes persistence and time,” Taylor mentioned.
For now, he mentioned he appears like he has discovered a group to raise him up.
“You by no means know what can occur sooner or later,” Taylor mentioned. “I’m a person on a mission. I’m not involved in private recognition. But when my story may help another person, then that’s good.”
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