Malcolm is the kind of person who when he decides to do something, he doesn’t do it halfway, but takes a courageous plunge and surpasses even his own hopes or expectations. To pursue his dreams as a musician, he left his position after eight years as a sanitation worker in Rocky Mount, cashing out his retirement to buy a van and a load of instruments and start traveling. Months later, he found himself touring all across the globe with different groups as an incredibly accomplished drummer — traveling to England, Australia, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, and Israel, to name a few. (Check out Malcolm’s awesome music! Listen to Majestic Lions on iTunes).

In 2013 Malcolm felt that he was in danger of relapsing after 12 years of sobriety, so he preemptively entered a six-month recovery program at Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD), where he joined CEF.

“Once in the program, I had lost my job and was homeless now. CEF came at the right time, just when I was worrying about how am I going to get a job online, who am I going to go to?” Malcolm connected with CEF during our office hours at UMD.

“And you know, I didn’t know how to use a computer at all, and within six months after being with CEF, I actually got a job in environmental services at Merck, and at Merck you can’t use pencil, pen and paper — everything is through computers. ”

That was two years ago, and Malcolm has now moved from temporary employment to a permanent position in a different eld. “I love that job… Without CEF I would have never been able to fill out the application, would not have made it. I keep pinching myself, say man, I’m doing alright, I’m loving it, life is good, trying to do the right things for the right reasons, and good things are really happening.”

“And over the years, I never stopped dealing with CEF after that. I knew I had found a good outlet, I knew I had found a good thing — somebody, someplace, people that care about you, they care to help you in so many ways.

“It’s hard for me to even explain — where can you and people who actually take the time out to help you put your life together? You know, this is my health program, this is my finance program, this is just amazing man.”

And Malcolm isn’t done with CEF yet! Malcolm has been a star saver in CEF’s saving program. “I saved for the laptop, I saved to get stuff to move [into my apartment], and now I’m saving for vacation.” Whether to take a trip home to the Virgin Islands or to go to a family reunion in Indianapolis, “either way, I’m going to make that goal, I’m going to reach it.” We are sure of it, because as we know from experience, when Malcolm sets his mind to it, he totally succeeds!