I was 17 when I first started using illegal drugs. ... In my household, drinking was a big part of manhood. Most of the men in my family died young. They worked hard, played hard, drank hard . ...
In California [after college in the early 1980s] one of my first jobs was working at a Union Square parking garage. I would get tipped by a rich guy. I don't know how much cocaine . ... I was still manageable at that point, able to work. But it wasn't until I experimented with crack that my life took a fast downward spiral.
After the readings, Thomas introduces the group to a bubbly young woman, Keisha Friday. She has stopped by to tell Thomas she's graduating from Bowie State with a biology degree. Her mom volunteered at Paul's Place, which is how she met Thomas, a mainstay at the center since 1996.
In her freshman year, Friday couldn't afford all her books. When Thomas heard, he and Paul's Place executive director Bill McLennan got her $400 to buy the books and catch up on her studies.
"I'm proud of you, girl; I know it wasn't easy," Thomas says, and she smiles, clearly proud but embarrassed by the unexpected public praise.
I moved to Baltimore [in 1988], trying to start my life over. ... I stayed drug-free for a while, got a job and was able to function. Eventually I started using again. It got really out of control where I became homeless, living that lifestyle a lot of people in Paul's Place live. I was in a shelter, I was in soup kitchens, depending on social programs to survive day to day. ... I just decided I couldn't stop using. I might as well quit lying to myself and be the crackhead I thought I was.
One day they had a job fair. ... They asked me, did I want to get some help with my addiction. So they pointed me in the direction of South Baltimore Station. That was in March 1994. ... One of the counselors at the time told me I had a spiritual sickness and the only antidote for that sickness was humility.
Thomas has a short commute from the Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhood. He remarried in 2000, and lives there with his wife, Betty, a community activist he met while chasing and attaining sobriety in 1994. The two make a point of having dinner together because they're so often on the go. Thomas not only works full time at Paul's Place but has a second job as overnight manager of a group home. He jokes that he's tight with Starbucks.
