Okay, so I have never been a "customer" here per se…read more
However, I have a story to share that will give you some insight to
the kind of man that owns this place.
So back in 2013, I had just moved to Colorado from Texas. I had not been able to find any work and ended up living out under the Broadway bridge, on a bike trail until I could find work and get on my feet. (A tent came before the actual roof over my head.)
A friend and I had moved out there, not knowing a single person in the state. We had at this point been out on the streets for a couple of months, summer of 2013, before the flood. We were both donating plasma twice a week, but were having a terrible time finding work.
Anyway, one day, I had had enough, and made a sign that said "WILL WORK FOR JOB". I didn't want any handouts, although that's usually what people ended up doing if they did anything to help, but it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to be able to help myself.
One day, I was out at the intersection of 72nd and Federal (before the Walmart was there), holding the sign. A man stopped and asked if I meant it. I said yes I did. He told me he owned a business down the road, and he needed a bunch of bushes and trees cleared up so he could have more room for cars. He introduced himself as Earl. This was the man that owns Federal Valley Motors.
For months after that, usually twice a week, he would pay me $15 an hour to go clear up his property. There was a lot there, so being just me doing the work, it was going to take a while. I did it twice a week because once his dumpster was full, there really wasn't anywhere to put all the brush and limbs I had trimmed.
Anyway, Earl is an amazing person, and he helped me at a time in my life when I had nothing and nobody to help. Because of Earl, I didn't starve, and I was eventually able to get my life back on track. I remember one day I had been at the McDonald's at 72nd and Sheridan trying to get a job, and I was walking back to my tent, and Earl drove up and saw me and stopped. He was helping one of his relatives move, and offered to pay me to help, same amount. So I did. He even took me to McDonald's to get food on the way there, and I had the biggest meal I'd had in a week that day. We moved everything, and then he brought me back to the side of town I was staying on.
Anyway, after a while, I got a job at the McDonald's on 64th and Indiana, and lived in motels for the next five years. With what we were paying, we we never had the money for a deposit and rent at the same time. Rent was due every paycheck. I worked there for a couple years until they changed ownership, then I went to the one at 80th and Wadsworth for a couple of years, before finally getting tired of the ever increasing cost of living in Colorado and moved back to Texas. I'm a tour guide in a vacation town now, I am doing better in my life than I ever have, own place, no roommate, plenty of "disposable income", but I can't help but wonder how things would have turned out had I never met Earl. At that point, I had pretty much lost all faith in humanity. He helped me turn my life around and I am eternally grateful for that. I was never able to finish the trimming work, most of it got finished, I did it twice a week for two or three months, but I started working at McDonald's overnights, and I was just never able to make it back out because of my work schedule.
But Earl, if you read this, I just want to thank you. I really appreciate what you did for me, and I will never forget it.
