2021-Annual-Report-FINAL-Single-Pages - Flipbook - Page 42
Lamar’s
Story
From the age of 23 to 31, Lamar spent
all but one year incarcerated.
“I was moved from county to county, to
different prisons. I kept getting in trouble.
It just tore me up, and I lost my sense of
vision. I didn’t know where I was going.
I was lost and I felt like I wasn’t getting
back out.”
He eventually made parole, but his
relationship with his kids was already too
damaged. They wouldn’t speak to him.
“That woke me up as a man.”
On parole, he started to apply for fast food
jobs, then a friend put him in touch with
4:13 Strong, a United Way funded partner.
They operate a months-long residential
program that supports men after they have
been incarcerated.
“I get excited every time I talk about it. 4:13
Strong saved my life,” he says.
4:13 Strong’s program equipped him
with the skills he needed to change his
life—forever. He started the program with
a week of tryouts, or physical and mental
conditioning. Then he moved on to the
40-day challenge, where he spent each
day in the classroom working on financial
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U NIT E D WA Y OF G R EATER NA S HV ILLE
