Ed J. is a gentle giant. Well over 6 feet tall and 200+ lbs he can be a quietly imposing individual. That is until you get to know him. Kindness and caring for the well being of others is evident in everything that Ed says and does. His patience and understanding for what others are going through has set the tone for the Clean and Sober Streets team and his leadership by example keeps the CSS team together through the cold winter runs.
Ed is a native of Washington, DC, born and raised here, he grew up with his mother and his two sisters. His father was in his life when Ed was very young, but he served in the Army during the Vietnam War and like a lot of soldiers who deal with traumatic events during wartime he was not mentally well when he returned home. His parents tried to make it work, but things became too difficult and his parents separated. Without a father to guide him Ed grew up pretty quickly. He spent a lot of time at the local Boys and Girls Club where he had strong male role models that kept him involved in sports, particularly football and boxing. Ed’s mother, along with the good influences of coaches and mentors kept him going well through high school, nothing much beyond the “boys will be boys” activities of playing street football and sneaking into the occasional movie. Ed graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School in NW, as well as completing his trade school requirements at the Lemuel Penn Center for printing and graphic arts. Artistic by nature, one of Ed’s high school teachers got him into the program at the Penn Center to work on learning the printing trade for large newspapers and publications. Throughout his teenage years Ed did well in school and had a summer job through the DC co-op job program working for the city government. As he said, “life was good then.”
After high school Ed got a full time job working for the DC government doing printing press work and moved out of his mother’s house when he was 18. “My lifestyle changed when I had money in my pocket. I moved in with a friend and started partying more. Happy hours on Thursdays, clubs on Friday, and that’s when I picked up a drug habit.” It might have started out as occasional use on weekends, but as is common with drug use it quickly turned into abuse that took control of his life and derailed his plans. For seven years Ed used drugs, eventually being forced to resign from his job. With no income he was forced to take to the streets, where his drug abuse continued and depression set in. Desperation led Ed to do things that are unthinkable to him now: stealing, carrying guns and knives, robbing people, doing whatever he needed to in order to get money to get his fix. When he was 26 years old Ed was caught by the police for carrying an unregistered firearm and did almost 3 years in jail because of it. After he was released there was a cycle of drug use, recovery, sobriety and relapse that lasted for several years. “I gave up on me, and I turned back to drugs when I did.”
“There first week I was here [Clean and Sober Streets] there was a billboard on the front that talked about a running program. I haven’t always completed a lot of things in life, but I wanted to do something, I wanted to test my abilities.” Ed has so far run almost 250 miles as the team captain for Clean and Sober Streets. “Since running with Back on My Feet I met a new family of people who are very loving, kind hearted and interested in people who are really trying to turn their lives around.” Ed has always been the type to help others. When he was a teenager there was an electrical fire in the store below the apartment complex he lived in. He felt the heat through the walls and smelled the smoke filling up the room. Ed went out into the hallway to pull the fire alarm, then made sure his sisters and the kids his mother were babysitting made it out safely, then he went back into the building to knock on doors to get the other residents out of the building. Ed’s goal has always been to help others, whether it be with a flat tire, a building fire, or helping his new teammates transition into a running program and help them find their inner motivation to turn their lives around.
“When I met Anne [Mahlum] I was impressed with her. She had an idea, and made it a goal and achieved it. I thought if I got her in my hip pocket I could be a on a team of winners, a team of positive people and that I could be a successful person in society. Back on My Feet has opened my eyes to see a brighter picture in life, it lets me know that I can get up and do something.” Since coming to Clean and Sober Streets Ed has earned his Safe Serve certificate and is planning to work in the food service industry soon. Ed has a new set of goals in his life that include sobriety, employment and independent living, and there is no doubt that he will achieve these goals soon through his hard work and dedication to his recovery, and to the assistance of others who are getting their lives back on track as well.
Last words from Ed: “If you want to add a new chapter to your life, to get peace of mind, to become physically fit, to live joyous and free, running with Back on My Feet will give you all of these options. God bless all.”
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