James, an Atlanta, GA.
resident found himself living on the streets of Atlanta.
James had been working as a Sociologist in the Atlanta area.
He was downsized and found himself out of work after working for the same company for ten years.
He had a 401K plan, a savings account and unemployment benefits.
However, after two years without work, his 401K and savings were gone.
He had also exhausted his unemployment benefits.
He lost his residence and sold his personal possessions cheaply.
For a short time he was able to stay with friends and family members, but after time he wore out his welcome.
Without money to buy food or pay for a place to live, He found himself living on the streets.
He had sought refuge in homeless shelters.
Unfortunately, all of the homeless shelters were full.
James was able to get food through some of the churches in the area.
After two months of living on the streets he was able to get into a shelter.
He started regularly attending one of the churches in the area.
James became friends with Raymond, who worked in the trucking industry.
Raymond encouraged James to consider employment in the trucking industry.
Raymond told James about the salary he could expect to make and the short amount of time it would take him to get started as a professional driver.
James had never considered trucking as a career.
He always fancied himself to be a white-collar worker.
He thought his job was secure for life.
He thought that working in the trucking industry was beneath him.
After all, he held a Masters degree in Sociology.
So he continued to tell Raymond that he didn't want to work in trucking.
Well, after constantly being unable to get another job, he thought about it and decided to give it a try.
However, he didn't have any money to pay for trucking school.
To his surprise, the congregation offered to pay for the training.
He took the class, passed the CDL Licensing Exam and went to work for the same trucking company as Raymond.
He currently works as a longhaul truck driver.
James says the best decision he made was to get into trucking.
He takes as many loads as he can.
To his surprise he found out that he enjoys being on the road.
He had never seen so many areas of the country before driving.
For the first time in almost three years he is earning good money.
He is able to save quite a bit of his income and is rebuilding his nest egg.
He says that he now earns over $50,000.
00 per year.