YouthBuild Golden Hammer Award
Timothy Oliver was awarded YouthBuild’s 2008 Golden Hammer Award for his exceptional achievement in construction. Tim enrolled in YouthBuild in October of 2007 and has transformed his life in many positive ways. He not only was outstanding in construction skills, but also academically. He obtained his GED in March, 2008 and was nominated for the National Adult Education Honor Society.
Tim has graciously shared his life’s journey – here is the unedited story he submitted:
"My name is Tim Oliver and I was raised here in Mt. Vernon, IL and have lived here my entire life. I was shy growing up. I had a few friends, but mostly stayed to myself most of the time. When I got to high school, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd, skipping school, smoking weed, and drinking. It seemed like I was always in trouble or going to jail. I never listened to my parents, because I thought I knew what was best for me. My junior year I quit school for no reason. I then started running the streets and it seems like all I did was look for a high and gasoline to drive my friends around. I went to jail, I don’t know how many times, for stupid things. This was my life for many years, until I got tired of never being anybody. I didn’t know what to do, I had thought of suicide many times, but couldn’t follow through because I loved my family too much.
One day I talked to a friend I hadn’t seen for awhile and he told me about a program called YouthBuild. At first I was hesitant about going, but the next day I made myself walk to the site and talk to the staff. I talked to Jeff Campbell and Ryan Alton for a while and decided this is what I needed, not just to stay out of trouble, but to better my life. I can say YouthBuild is the best program out there for kids. If it helped me to stay out of trouble, anybody can do it, you just have to have the confidence in yourself. I plan to stick with my YouthBuild family now that I can say I am a graduate of the program!