Transcription
[Music] hi my name is Brandon the r I'm a six-stage Apprentice uh with the drywall lathers um my specialty is Welden and being a carpenter is is just amazing it's opened up a lot of doors that I never thought would open up to me uh did a lot of time in prison um I heard a lot about getting in as an iron worker unfor when I got out iron workers they felt like I didn't have enough experience in the shop and I kind of laughed I told them I was like man you guys made a big mistake because I'm going to bust my ass somebody's going to give me that opportunity so 11 days out of prison being homeless I ended up working two different jobs didn't pay me barely anything but I was just thankful to have a job and be at peace with my PO.
I had a older gentleman turn to me and he told me he's like even though you don't know how to do any drywall lathering you can take those welding skills and still get in somewhere so fortunately I met a gentleman named Scott parin uh with PCI and he gave me the opportunity after 4 months banging on his door um funny story is when I came to him he was like you know this is a federal building and I laughed at him and I raised up my ankle and I said hey man I got an ankle monitor I'm on parole I don't want no problems I just want a job he started laughing and gave me that opportunity cuz he's seen that I was I had that hunger that fire and since then um for the last four years been busting my ass and I've only been laid off a couple days here and there and found another job immediately.
This trade is is helped me provide for my family I got a three-year-old son now and I have my own home and again life life is just it's fantastic I make more money than my PO so I I get a rise out of it and so does he and uh again you know the guys I turn to them they work with me and I feel like as a community especially for somebody that's a felon it's really assisted me in my transition um to being successful out here and reent back in society so uh to all the the Carpenters and the people who put this together I'm really thankful and appreciate the the opportunity that they don't judge based off race or background but they judge off our character so thank you oh and for those that uh that are lost find your two [Applause] [Music] [Applause] North [Music] [Applause] he.