Michael

My name is Michael Culver. I’ve lived in this area of California my whole life, having been born in Woodland Hills, and then moving to Moorpark where I went to school at Moorpark High and Moorpark Community College.
You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, but I am homeless. I have been, on and off, for nearly an entire decade.

You might be wondering: why? Well, the answer is simple: I didn’t do anything. We tend to think that for something to go wrong, someone or something must have caused it. But the reality is, sometimes things will go wrong all on their own. All you have to do is... nothing. Stop going to school. stop going to work. stop paying your bills. stop talking to your family and friends. That’s all it takes for things to degenerate into disarray.
We all want to do something meaningful with our lives, but we don’t always know how to do it. We evolved as social creatures. alone, we are frail and vulnerable. I can personally attest to this fact. Without a support network, without loved ones in your life; who can you call on for aid, who can you go to for a helping hand, or a guiding voice?

I’ve heard people say money is the most valuable of currencies. But I disagree. I think it’s trust. Trust is the most valuable of currencies.
Try and make friends with someone you can’t trust. Do business with a company you can’t trust. Learn lessons from a teacher you can’t trust. You will quickly find that without trust, nothing is possible.
I can’t predict the future, so I don’t know what is in store for me, but I trust that things will work out for the best. Because I trust that I will put in the hard work to make it happen, I trust in those who are helping me along the way, and I trust everyone in this room with my story that I’m sharing with you.

We can’t change our past, but we can act differently in the present in order to change the future. I can’t change that I have been homeless, but I can do something about it moving forward. I’m reminded of the serenity prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And so I accepted that I couldn’t do it alone and found the courage to seek support.

And that courage paid off when I was approached by the Amalfi Jets Charitable Foundation. They saw what I was doing to put my life together, and wanted to walk that path with me. I saw their vision for what charity could be and wanted to walk that path with them. And so for the past month, we have been walking the path together, meeting weekly to lay out a vision of what my life could look like if I could have what I wanted. Well, I want to live in a place I could call my own. I want to have an education that will lead me to a quality career. I want to build relationships that are regenerative and meaningful. I want to raise a family. I want to become a productive and trusted member of society.

The LCDI program is helping me become that person. They take an active approach to charity, not simply providing financial support, but the unquantifiably more valuable mentorship and hands on help. Because I think each of you can agree that we all need help doing that which we struggle with the most. For me, it’s reaching out. So they have linked arms with me, multiplying my reach. We’re reaching out for rooms, for certifications, for jobs, for networking, and for relationships.
I cannot change the squandered opportunities that I forgone, but I learned from my mistakes, so when Kolin Jones approached me with this opportunity, I knew that I had to join the LCDI Program and I knew that something special was happening.