A Castle Rock, Colo. resident since 2022, Ryan lost his place. He lost his wife, lost his vehicles, lost his dogs, lost everything. So he packed his last bag and moved out of the apartment he hadn’t paid rent on in months and never looked back. 

An unknown overpass became his home for several months, avoiding law enforcement not because he was up to no good, but simply because he didn’t know how to explain his predicament.

Then, “by the grace of God,” he says, he met a deputy sheriff with the Douglas County Homeless Engagement, Assistance, and Resource Team (HEART) who shared there were programs that he could get involved in that would get him off the streets. Which is how Ryan ended up at Ready to Work in Aurora. 

“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Ryan recalled. “Within hours I was assigned a case manager, and I was given a place to stay. I was warm and dry. 

Within 24 hours, they had put me to work, cleaning the house that I was living in. I guess it was a test, but I saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate that I didn’t want to be on the street anymore.”

Within a few weeks Ryan was assigned to an outdoor landscape crew in Aurora. Shortly after he was identified as a LEAD candidate which entailed being a mentor, an example to others on the crew, and for those in the community who would see the crews in the streets working. 

One afternoon while cleaning up on the corner of Hampden and Chambers, residents stopped (in their vehicles) and shaked his hand and thanked him for the work he (and other trainees) were doing. Two residents actually wrote endorsing letters to the mayor’s office which made their way back to Ready to Work case managers, program director and supervisors, and eventually the trainees. 

Those letters demonstrated that community members took notice, and gave trainees a sense of accomplishment, “It was almost as good as the paycheck we got,” Ryan said. 

Prior to graduating from Ready to Work and relocating back to his home state of Michigan, Ryan was in commercial painting, working for a large general contractor in Denver, most recently working on a skyscraper project. 

“When I got here (Ready to Work) they told me it was a 9-12 month program. It was everything I could do not to turn around. It was the fastest nine months of my life. 

I thank God I got here. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”