We enjoy sharing stories of our clients’ personal and professional successes as they work their way through our program and graduate back into the community. In this story, one of our clients had the opportunity to reconnect with a child he helped raise many years ago. Read his story to understand the love and care for others that define many of our clients here at Riverside House
Mr. Alexander Powell* experienced a rough childhood and adolescence. He spent many years struggling in the streets, which led him to be attracted to a life of crime, and ultimately caused him to end up in prison.
In the midst of his life of crime on the streets, he did find time to touch the life of a young boy who didn’t have a father. In 1992, Mr. Powell dated a young lady who had a three-year-old son at the time. He willingly and selflessly embraced this young child as his own. Unfortunately, because Mr. Powell was still in the midst of committing crimes and living a life of trouble on the streets, he was eventually arrested and sent to prison, leaving the boy once again without a father present in his life.
Years later in 2008, Mr. Powell received a Father’s Day card in the mail while he was incarcerated. The card was from this young boy who was now grown up. In the card was a note that stated that the young man was appreciative of the assistance Mr. Powell had given his mother so that she could raise him when the boy’s father wasn’t around. Mr. Powell cried in his jail cell because of the incredibly kind words in the note from the boy he cared so much for as a child. However, after receiving the initial card, it would be many years before Mr. Powell would hear from the boy again.
As we approach 2018, Mr. Powell has recently gotten back in contact with the young man he helped raise back in 1992. Currently, the young man is married with two kids, and he told Mr. Powell that he has re-enlisted in the Air Force. It is without a doubt that Mr. Powell has been an influence in the life of this young man, and we are praying that God allows the two of them to continue to build their relationship.
*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of our clients.
