In the midst of serving his sixth year in prison, Richard received the devastating news of his wife's passing. He says that this was the pivotal moment when he resolved to turn his life around.
“We had been together forever, we had five kids together, I spoke to her every day, and then one day she just got sick and eventually passed away,” he said.
“They didn’t even let me go to the funeral.”
Two years later, at the age of 57, he returned home to the Bronx, New York, determined to become a different man.
“I had to make a change for the sake of my kids and my grandkids,” Richard said.
After an initial and brief stay in transitional housing, Richard moved back into his family home in the Bronx and entered The Fortune Society’s reentry program. While there, he earned his OSHA certificate, received anger management and substance abuse counseling, and connected with the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in New York City.
Through CEO, Richard secured transitional work as a New York County Criminal Court custodian. Soon after, he worked with Safety Clean, a private janitorial company serving the entire New York Metro area. While it only paid $17 an hour, for Richard, it doesn’t matter where you start, but where you end up.
“I just wanted to work and move forward,” Richard said.
“So, I put one foot in front of the other and started from the bottom up.”
For his first assignment, Safety Clean sent Richard to one of the two ASPCA Adoption Centers uptown, where he quickly earned a reputation for having a strong work ethic and a positive attitude. He became so well-liked and dependable that when Safety Clean’s contract expired and a new company, Business Services, took over, the ASPCA’s office and building managers specifically requested that Richard remain on staff with the new provider.
“They said, 'We want this guy here because he’s a perfect worker and he knows what he’s doing,” Richard said.
As a young man, Richard says that he had to drop out of high school to help support his mother and brother. He decided to pursue a trade, earning a certificate in electrical maintenance with CMS Electrical Services and, for a short time, even becoming a Local three union member. That past training and work experience are now paying off immensely for everyone.
“I’m taking care of their plumbing, replacing toilets, tiling floors, repairing, replacing, and repainting dry wall, doing electrical work, I’m doing it all,” Richard said.
Thanks to his skills, reliability, and willingness to go the extra mile, Business Services raised Richard's pay from $18 to $22 an hour. Most recently, he says the ASPCA has decided to take him on as a permanent member of the facility staff at their second location, a unionized position that will pay $26 an hour.
“I built trust with these people, they respect me, and they don’t want anyone else but me to do this job for them,” Richard said.
Richard’s journey has been a testament to the value of hard work and dedication. Since leaving prison, he has returned to his family home and worked his way up the ladder at a job he enjoys. His new life now affords him the stability he needs and, as a result, the freedom he enjoys spending the weekends with his family.
“My family is with me every day and has been so supportive of my progress,” Richard said.
“They’re proud of me, and I’m proud of myself.”
When he wakes up in the bed that he once shared with his wife, plays with his grandchildren in the home they lived in for nearly twenty years, and walks his two Yorkshire Terriers through the neighborhood he grew up in, Richard says that he always thinks of the promise he made to the team at CEO.
“I gave them my word that I was never going to let them down, that I was always going to stay positive and do the right thing, and that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Richard said.
“And because I did that, my life has completely changed, I’m happy, and I can honestly say to people like me that, if you do the right thing, everything’s going to go your way too.”
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