Renewal Story: Derrick

Working two full-time jobs and attending college, it was probably just a matter of time before Derrick’s schedule got the better of him. “One night I was getting off work and I fell asleep behind the wheel,” he tells us. “My car flipped over and I broke my neck in five places. I was in a coma and I was paralyzed for about three weeks." 

It was a miracle that Derrick survived… and that he eventually walked again. But when he left the hospital, he had to move in with his mother to complete his recovery. Unable to return to school or work, Derrick says, “I got extremely depressed, so I started getting high. I got into trouble and got locked up. While I was locked up, my mom died. They took the house and all my resources.”

With nowhere else to go, Derrick came to UGM-TC. “I had never been homeless before. This place gave me an opportunity to reconstruct myself and reestablish myself in society.”

Through UGM-TC, Derrick enrolled in the Goodwill Job Resource Centers and is taking classes to renew his commercial driver’s license. “That’ll put me back financially where I was,” he says.

However, Derrick has learned that money isn’t everything – and that just might be the second miracle of his life. “Before I came to UGM-TC, I drove a Range Rover and had a four-bedroom house, but I was empty. I didn’t know God,” Derrick says. “Now I don’t have those things, but I’m spiritually full and I feel great! I wish I could give this feeling to everybody!"