“I have been through tough times. Some self-inflicted. The worst feeling is loneliness. I was lucky to always have someone there for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. God has inundated me with grace and amazing people. There are so many people who aren’t that lucky. They feel forgotten and need someone. I gravitate towards helping them. A friend of mine and I started a non-profit in Birmingham called the Just People Project and we put together care packages for the homeless and formed relationships with them. At times like this, people need community and to know someone cares. There is no magic bullet, all we have is each other. Help those who can’t help themselves.
I moved to Mobile to help open Five Bar and Chuck’s Fish. I also got to help open the American Lunch food truck that gives out free lunches. I now run the Tropical Smoothies in Mobile and we just dropped smoothies off with the ER staff at hospitals today to thank them.
Sebastian Junger wrote a book called Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging about how well communities took care of each other. There are so many people in Mobile who are in this tribe. When I moved here, I was first around Luke and Jake Peavey and Maggie Smith who fight tooth and nail for this city. They shaped my heart for Mobile. We need our tribes more than anything right now.
Substance abuse is one of my demons. Every Wednesday American Lunch serves free lunch at Wings of Life and we love on them and spend time with them. That time with people who have been through the same things is liberating for me. I slipped and fell in the middle of last year but my friends helped me put things back together. Hindsight, I helped other people, too. God uses us even in our worst places. I still make mistakes. We are broken people, but I think our purpose is to help other broken people. Home and happiness are a state of mind. I want to be a good dad and husband. I want to help other people and learn from my mistakes. Everything else will fall into place.”
(I am now doing Soul-cial distancing interviews by phone. If know someone I should interview, send me an message or email. [email protected])
Im broken and to point of wanting to give up. I need someone who will be there for me. Someone to talk to. Help please