The Joys of Fatherhood and Hard Work

Travis Trezevant (left) poses for a photo while working in the Advance Memphis garden with a classmate.

Travis Trezevant remembers toiling in our community garden last summer and enjoying it.

Curtis Hines, who leads our Work Life job readiness class, made the paid afternoon work portion of the class fun and rewarding, despite the weather.

“It’s a good feeling to know you’re handling the heat and preparing yourself for trials ahead,” Trezevant said.

Within three weeks of graduating, Trezevant accepted a job at AutoZone. He’s still there and now works 40 hours a week. He absolutely loves it.

“Ever since I started the job, everything changed,” Trezevant said. “I’m happy when I come to work. … Out in the streets there ain’t nothing. It’s jail or you’re dead. … My kids are happy. … They know daddy is going to take care of them.”

Trezevant’s kids motivated him to take the class. And Hines remembers connecting with him about fatherhood. He said he works to show fathers how their kids are blessings, not burdens, and convince them that God has already equipped them with the skills they need to parent well if they take the responsibility seriously.

Trezevant said Hines and Elena Lattner (then our Work Life coordinator) inspired him to give the class his all.

“[Curtis and Elena] always told me they were proud of me, and I held onto that,” he said. “I'm used to my mom telling me she’s proud of me. But when my teachers were telling me that … that made my heart smile. That made me want to come every day.”

These simple words of encouragement helped start a positive cycle in his life. 

Because he knew he’d worked hard in his five weeks with us, he was beaming with pride on graduation day. For the first time in years, he’d taken on a difficult challenge and conquered it. From there, he said he just had to keep that mindset going.

Trezevant hopes to work his way up to wearing the gray shirt of an AutoZone store manager, but he’s not in a hurry. 

He’s happy in his full-time job.