A place to begin

A friend had planted the idea months earlier. The two had known each other since third grade, but the friend had disappeared from their circle for nearly nine months. When he returned, he told Mac he had been at egm and had learned how to live without the patterns that had shaped both of their lives.

Mac listened. He just wasn’t ready yet.

By that September, his housing had become unstable. Family relationships were strained, and he was sleeping outside more often than inside. The possibility that his son might move out of state—and that Mac could lose contact with him—brought his choices into focus.

For Mac, that was the moment everything changed direction.

He left with only the clothes he was wearing and walked to egm. He could have asked someone for a ride, but the walk mattered. Somewhere along the way, he began to believe that this step might be different from the attempts he had made before.

When he arrived, he asked for two people he had been told could help. One was unavailable. The other was in a meeting, so Mac started to turn away.

Then the person in that meeting saw him.

It was the same friend who had first told him about egm.

His friend came out, brought him into the room, and made sure Mac didn’t leave before someone could listen. That relationship helped carry Mac across the threshold.

At first, Mac says, he felt more determination than hope.

“I don’t think I was quite to hope yet,” he remembers. “It was almost like I had hope that I had hope.”

Mac

A place to do the long work

Mac was given a bed. Before entering the Genesis program, he also had practical matters to address, including unresolved driving offenses. Staff didn’t promise a quick solution. They offered structure, accountability, and the time to begin putting his life back together.

Asking for help brought shame. Receiving it brought something else.

“There was something freeing about being able to ask and receiving it quickly,” Mac says.

Mac

Staff and other men in the program understood how difficult that first step could be because many had taken it themselves.

Mac spent roughly two years connected to egm. He completed Genesis, began college, found work, and built relationships beyond the Mission so he would have support when he left. Those relationships mattered when life became difficult again and he needed to return for a season.

His first Thanksgiving and Christmas at egm were different from the holidays he had known. There was sadness in being separated from family, but there was also community among men who were working toward change together.

Through egm’s Giving Tree, Mac had wrapped gifts to bring his son. It was a small but meaningful way to show up as the father he wanted to become.

“It was amazing,” he says.

His family could see that something was changing—not because everything was suddenly resolved, but because Mac was beginning to live differently.

Faith rediscovered over time

Mac had grown up around church, but by the time he arrived at egm he described himself as an atheist. Underneath that label was grief and anger following the death of a close family friend when Mac was 12.

He asked whether he could participate in the program without the faith component. Staff didn’t pressure him to pretend. They invited him to attend, participate, and simply pray for more faith.

Over time, his posture changed. So did his life.

Mac describes moments along the way as “little big things”—experiences that seemed small from the outside but arrived when he needed them.

One evening, while he was considering leaving the program, a Bible study reading brought him back to the foundations he was trying to build. He stayed.

Mac doesn’t describe transformation as one dramatic moment. It took time, repeated choices, honest relationships, and people who kept making room for him to continue.

From the ground up

Davey Tree became another important part of Mac’s story.

He began in an entry-level grounds role, moving branches and supporting crew members who knew how to prune and care for trees. As he learned, Davey gave him more responsibility.

He was trained to prune trees, lead crews, work in plant health care, and eventually move into the office. He attended the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences, became a certified arborist, and grew into his current role as assistant manager.

Mac sees a connection between the two places.

“egm gave me the foundation,” he says. “Davey helped me with my career. And being a father gave me the drive.”

Mac

In 2024, that connection came full circle. After reconnecting with egm, Mac helped begin a partnership between Davey and the Mission. The company has already contributed professional tree work and is prepared to support the next season of the Smith Campus expansion.

For Mac, returning is a way to take his place in shared work that shaped him and continues to shape others.

His story is not a straight line, and it isn’t a story of change happening alone. It is a story of a friend who came back, a community that made room, a father who kept choosing the next step, and an employer that invested in his growth.

Transformation happens through relationship. It takes time. And sometimes it begins with just enough hope to believe that hope may still be possible.

When Mac reconnected with egm in 2024, the conversation brought together two places that had played important roles in his life.

egm had given him a foundation for recovery, faith, and relationship. Davey Tree had given him an opportunity to build a career.

Mac began at Davey in an entry-level grounds role, moving branches and supporting crew members who knew how to prune and care for trees. As he learned, the company continued to invest in him.

He moved into pruning, crew leadership, plant health care, and office responsibilities. He attended the Davey Institute of Tree Sciences, became a certified arborist, and now serves as an assistant manager.

When Davey invited Mac to identify an organization the company could support, he thought first of egm.

“I definitely wanted to give back to the place that had given me so much,” he says.

Mac

Davey welcomed the idea. That response mattered to Mac—not only because the company was willing to contribute services, but because his colleagues understood why this relationship was personal to him.

Expertise offered as partnership

The partnership became tangible in December 2024, when a Davey crew removed a damaged tree for egm at no cost. The work addressed an immediate safety concern and helped care for a property where people live and receive support.

Davey is also standing by for the next step: removing trees along the front of the Smith Campus when construction on the expansion is ready to begin.

This is one way a business can participate in Transform 2029. Davey is bringing what it knows, the people it has trained, and the tools already in its hands.

The partnership is practical, relational, and rooted in a shared commitment to the community.

Creating a more connected campus

The Smith Campus expansion is designed to bring three existing buildings together into one connected campus.

Today, moving between spaces can require guests and staff to go outside. The new design will create a more continuous indoor environment, helping people remain connected to staff, services, and community.

Plans include a welcoming main entrance, improved safety and security, more dignified dorm and lounge spaces, expanded service areas, a more functional kitchen, community rooms, classrooms, and a dedicated center for relational poverty alleviation training.

• A welcoming main entrance with improved safety and security
• More dignified dorm, lounge, and expanded service spaces
• A more functional kitchen plus community rooms and classrooms
• A dedicated center for relational poverty alleviation training

These are not simply building improvements.

The spaces are being designed around what egm has learned through years of research, service, and walking alongside people. The goal is to create an environment where someone can rest, build trust, access support, and take the next step without being disconnected from relationship.

egm is currently awaiting permit approvals and hopes construction can begin in fall 2026 or early 2027.

Funding for Phase One is nearly secured. Phase Two will include inviting households, churches, and business partners to consider a commitment to Transform 2029.

That participation may look different for each partner. Davey’s contribution of professional services is one example of how people and organizations can bring their particular strengths into the work.

For Mac, the partnership is also part of a longer story. Years after walking through egm’s doors asking for help, he returned with experience, leadership, and a company willing to stand beside him.

That is what shared transformation can look like: relationships carried forward, gifts put to work, and a community creating more room for people to belong, heal, and become.