We’re happy Bruce found his way to our YSHC “framily” after a long life journey that started in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was the baby of a large family.
Bruce played professional football for six years with the Seattle Seahawks. He left football due to head injuries, then worked to overcome an addiction to crack cocaine, which he used to cope with the recurrent nightmares resulting from his injuries. “I beat the odds,” Bruce says. “All I do is keep praying for God’s help!”
Arriving in Iowa without a place to live, Bruce spent nights in shelters or on other people’s couches before making his home here at YSHC. He says YSHC has offered him the “tune-up” all bodies and minds need to be healthy. He uses his membership at the Y to lift weights every morning, and completed his college degree in 2019.
What Bruce likes best about YSHC is the friendliness of staff and other residents. “I have a lot of respect for everyone here,” he says. Bruce has a daughter and a granddaughter and cleans churches for a living. While he enjoys the peace and quiet of his job, he considers church more than just his workplace. Faith plays a central role in his life, and says the challenges he faces now “ain’t nothing compared to what I went through.”
“If you give up,” Bruce says, “the same things will keep on happening. You have to keep trying and ask God."