As a single father to two teenagers, Ricky says his kids are his inspiration. “My son and daughter are my priority,” he says. “I want to leave something behind for them when I am gone, something my parents weren’t able to do.”
While growing up in Durham, Ricky didn’t have a lot of breaks. As he’ll readily admit, he made serious mistakes and paid for them. Seventeen years ago, Ricky walked out of prison determined to turn his life around. Since then, he has worked very hard to build a life that would make his parents proud.
Ricky works as a landscape technician for the State, a position he has held for 11 years. In the course of his work, he regularly supervises inmates on landscape detail. “I tell every one of them,” he says, “if I can turn my life around, so can you. I’m no better than you are.”
The first step for every homeowner partner is to start earning “sweat equity” by building Habitat homes with other families. “The first day,” Ricky says, “it was about earning my hours. But after I had the experience of meeting people and working on the homes, I didn’t even care about getting my time sheet signed. It was about the good feeling I got from helping somebody else to the best of my ability.”
A fast learner with a knack for training volunteers, Ricky quickly became a popular person on the construction site. Long-time Habitat volunteer house leader Bob Blackmun can’t say enough about Ricky’s work ethic. “Not only does he arrive early, stay late and eagerly work, Ricky does so with exceptional patience and cheerfulness,” says Bob. “Since we started working together since last fall, I’ve learned that Ricky not only has the construction skills to be a good house leader, but also the caring for others that is so important.”
“Bob and I have bonded like brothers,” Ricky says. “My goal is to be the first Habitat homeowner to volunteer like Bob does as a House Leader.”
“I haven’t brought my kids out to the job site because I want to surprise them,” he says. “Once the house is totally finished, I want to pull up in our driveway and say, ‘Look at this house I helped build, it belongs to us.’”
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