This is the second in a 3-part series about participants in CitySquare's Build4Success hard skills, construction training program.
Michael McCall – Michael was in the Build4Success class with Sam (see previous post on 3-25-2011). They became friends during the training and have remained good friends since then. Michael was a leader in the class and was quick to help his fellow classmates if they were struggling with any course work. He even tutored some in math. A few months after completing training, Michael went to work for Humphrey & Associates electrical contractors and is now in his second year of electrical apprenticeship at CEF. After he had been on the job for a few months, Michael had saved enough to purchase a new truck; he called me and asked me if I thought it would be ok if he gave his old car to Sam (Griffin). He said it wasn’t much of a car but it was better than none and maybe Sam could use it as a stepping stone into a better vehicle. I told him that would be between them but wanted him to make sure he transferred the title and did all the paperwork, he did. (This car helped Sam get into his truck – longer story on this than I want to write here). After Sam’s shooting, Michael has continued to prove to be the kind of friend all of us hope to be. He picks up Sam for dinner occasionally and is there to help Sam however he can. Michael also participated in tryouts as an evaluator this last time with Sam.
It does my heart good to see Michael and Sam's stories being told here. They are, indeed, powerful testaments to the work God is doing through CitySquare.
ReplyDeleteI recently had the opportunity to work side-by-side with Michael in doing evaluations for the present Build4Success class. What was remarkable was Michael's ability to care for and truly begin to mentor prospective students for that program. They hung on his every word and used the opportunity to ask him as many questions as they could about his experience in the class and in the workforce. He helped a lot of people that day.
Thank God for all the folks at CitySquare who make the job training programs possible.