Landing a Life-Changing Job Out of Prison and Addiction
10/24/23 • 46 min
Out of prison and addiction into a full-time job with big-time responsibility, Kyle Wedge transformed his life in no small way, with the help of a whole host of folks who had faced that same hard recovery. Now, as Field Operations Manager at MaineWorks, he is helping people move from incarceration and addiction into aliveness and connection.
Founded in 2010 by Margo Walsh, MaineWorks is an employment company offering support, structure, and accountability for people facing real barriers to employment, like felony convictions and substance use disorder, by providing quality, long-term job placement in the fields of construction, carpentry, masonry, roadwork, bridges, demolition, landscaping, and more.
As Kyle says, “We can't define someone by everything that they've done in the past. The person that needs that second chance could be the most valuable person that you add to your company or team, because that person has hit all the pain in the world and they're willing to go to any lengths to be their best self.”
Kyle’s voice is heartwarming, his story heart-wrenching, and ultimately– incredibly inspiring. Join us as he shares his perspective on the power of service, sobriety, and good hard work.
Find out more at MaineWorks.us, and support the work at UnitedRecoveryFund.org
Special thanks to Margo Walsh and to Sternman Productions, Tom Hildreth and Ian McCrudden, for clips from the amazing documentary, Hopeful: The Story of MaineWorks.
If you liked this episode, listen next to Doug Naselroad: Building Instruments to Recover from Floods and Addiction in Appalachia.
Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us!
Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.
If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
Out of prison and addiction into a full-time job with big-time responsibility, Kyle Wedge transformed his life in no small way, with the help of a whole host of folks who had faced that same hard recovery. Now, as Field Operations Manager at MaineWorks, he is helping people move from incarceration and addiction into aliveness and connection.
Founded in 2010 by Margo Walsh, MaineWorks is an employment company offering support, structure, and accountability for people facing real barriers to employment, like felony convictions and substance use disorder, by providing quality, long-term job placement in the fields of construction, carpentry, masonry, roadwork, bridges, demolition, landscaping, and more.
As Kyle says, “We can't define someone by everything that they've done in the past. The person that needs that second chance could be the most valuable person that you add to your company or team, because that person has hit all the pain in the world and they're willing to go to any lengths to be their best self.”
Kyle’s voice is heartwarming, his story heart-wrenching, and ultimately– incredibly inspiring. Join us as he shares his perspective on the power of service, sobriety, and good hard work.
Find out more at MaineWorks.us, and support the work at UnitedRecoveryFund.org
Special thanks to Margo Walsh and to Sternman Productions, Tom Hildreth and Ian McCrudden, for clips from the amazing documentary, Hopeful: The Story of MaineWorks.
If you liked this episode, listen next to Doug Naselroad: Building Instruments to Recover from Floods and Addiction in Appalachia.
Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us!
Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.
If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
Previous Episode
Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Wildlife Haven
Where’s your creek? Atlanta’s own Sally Sears asks, as she spills the tea on how she and her neighbors discovered an urban paradise, hidden in swaths of kudzu, swamped with sewage and asbestos, but there nonetheless, waiting for them to reclaim it.
This is the story of Zonolite Park, an industrial wasteland abandoned for decades, declared a brownfield by the EPA, only to be rescued by a handful of locals who believed it could be done. From court battles to coordinated clean up, the people of South Fork Conservancy built a veritable wildlife haven between two major interstates. And it’s only the beginning... With five miles of pathway and three new public parks along Peachtree Creek, they plan to connect and restore 31 miles of thriving watershed.
A lifelong journalist and co-founder and CEO of South Fork Conservancy, Sally shares her wealth of experience covering urban growth in the South. “When you can help a little thing like a creek, you start to see some of those intertwining connections that make for a much more rich life for yourself, as well as for the world around you, and you inspire other people to do it too. [...] It's a purpose. It's a unifier. We are not here alone. We are here as part of something bigger.”
Learn more about the restoration of Zonolite Park at SouthForkConservancy.org
And connect with Sally Sears on LinkedIn
Listen to the podcast episode Sally referenced: Bayou Dave: Cleaning Up Trash to Save the World
Connect with Kate on youtube.com/katetucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us!
Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.
Next Episode
Building Climate Resilience in a Coastal Florida Floodplain
What do you do when your hometown has been ranked in the top 4 US cities most vulnerable to coastal flooding? If you’re Nancy Metayer Bowen, you run for office. And you become the first Haitian-American to be elected to office in Coral Springs, Florida. Now as a city commissioner, Nancy is hard at work, what storms may come – hurricanes, Imposter Syndrome, sea level rise – building a more sustainable future for her family, her community, and the rich and diverse ecosystem of the South Florida Everglades.
Join us for a courageous and enlivening conversation on finding hope to outlast the storm.
To learn more about Nancy and her work in Coral Springs, visit metayerbowen.com
If you liked this episode, listen next to Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Wildlife Haven with Sally Sears on HOPE Is My Middle Name season 3, episode 3.
Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us!
Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.
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