Meet Nathaniel
Nathaniel had spent his life fighting. “I had a mentally disabled brother. I had to fight for him all my life. That’s how I started fighting people, you know, people would pick on him, making him cry. So I got it fights and then I graduated the guns.” Having been in and out of trouble in Nashville, he decided to move to Murfreesboro to get away from bad influences. However, trouble continued to find Nathaniel and he found himself facing aggravated assault charges and a second trip to prison.
After that 10 year sentence, he knew he had to change the path of his life. “I went to the Carrier Center and they approved me to go to truck driving school.” But, he needed a place to live in order to take the advantage of this opportunity. That’s when The Salvation Army came into the picture. Within 4 days, Nathaniel was accepted into the gap housing program and was able to start down his new path to a brighter future.
“Today I’m trying to go in another direction. The Salvation Army helped me even get my own place, a two-bedroom trailer. I got lots of people behind me…believing in me. You know, I think through the Salvation Army, just changing my mindset, they just showed me how to appreciate the small things.”
Misty Ratcliff, Development and Communications Manager – The Salvation Army Nashville Area Command, uss.salvationarmy.org
