Author Carlton Young Delivers Hope to the Homeless
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Carlton
Young was seconds away from killing himself. As he sat in his car with
a gun in his right hand on a cold Thanksgiving night, Young prepared to
take his own life after years of being homeless. But moments before he
was set to pull the trigger, Les Brown’s tape got stuck in the tape
deck. The sentence, “It’s not over until you win,” replayed several
times. Soon after, Young placed the gun on his lap and realized that
death was not the answer.
Young eventually found a stable job, a home, and set out to help others. In his latest book, From Home to Homeless to Success, he discusses his battle with being homeless and provides motivation to individuals living on the streets.
–amir shaw
How did you get to the point of living on the streets?
After the military, I had a few jobs but I went through a period where
I was unemployed. I had no money or place to go. In a span of three
years, I went from staying at extended stay hotels to parking my car
and getting sleep anywhere that I could.
Your 14-year-old son was with you at the time, did you keep him in school?
My son would always go to school. I would steal addresses so that my
son could go to a decent school. I [got] a [post office] box and
changed the address so that the school would send his information
there. I told my son that I was doing that for survival. If the school
[had] found out that he was living out of a car, they could have called
social workers [that] would have put him into foster care.
How did things change for you?
I began to take responsibility. I admitted that it was my fault. I
started an oven cleaning business and I was able to save money. Delta
hired me and I worked there until I was diagnosed with cancer. I’m now
married and I travel all over the world. I want to encourage others who
are homeless to know that they can change their circumstance. Because
it’s bad now, it doesn’t mean that it will always be bad.
