Springfield Victory Mission

Eliminating Poverty from the Inside Out

Wednesday, 01 April 2009

It all started with a phone call while I was trying to figure out what I should do with my life. I just graduated from the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Program for men...that was my thirteenth time, but I did it this time!

I was finally sober, got a job and worked hard, but I still felt like something was missing in my life. Then one day I received a letter from Ed, a friend who had been accepted into the Victory Trade School. Ed and I graduated from the Salvation Army together, and the way he talked in the letter...something was clearly different about him. He started talking about his new journey in the culinary and hotel management field. From the pages I could read that God was with him and he was doing great.

As I read the letter once, twice, then three times, something began stirring in my soul. I wanted more than a lifetime of working at a job. I wanted a lifetime of working in God’s “sweet spot” for my life, where I would have much more than a job...I would have a career in an occupation I am passionate about.

I immediately started learning more about the Victory Trade School and completed an application to attend. I wasn’t nervous as I waited for the call to be interviewed, but instead I was overwhelmingly excited. I received a call for my first interview, then my second, and finally my third when I was asked, “How soon could I be there?” I had been accepted in January 2009, and little did I know what kind of journey I was embarking on...or how it would change my life.

It is now one year later and one more exam from being a graduate of the Victory Trade School. To say it has been a quick year is truly an understatement. I think back on my classes, classmates, teachers and all of those I have met along the way. They have all played a part in my success at the school and helped me to work to my full potential in something I love.

This journey has been life changing as I have learned to cook properly, appropriate plate presentation, organization and so much more in the culinary and hotel management field. Most of all, my closer walk with God has brought me to a new height of understanding...the reason why I am here on the earth and where I’m supposed to go from here. I’m looking forward to a blessed 2010 thanks to the Victory Trade School.