Emerson once wrote, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

For one local Patrick County man, the journey may have been more than trying, but it certainly led him down the path to a life full of success.

Jimmy Willard attended North Stokes High School until ninth grade, when his father suffered a brain aneurism and was hospitalized for almost six months.  After his father came home, Jimmy and his family had to assist in his father’s recovery and physical therapy.

Having to “grow up real quick,” Jimmy took over all of his father’s duties on the family’s 30-acre tobacco farm where his entire family swapped labor.  He worked through the summer and fall of what would have been his tenth grade year.  He tried to go back to school after that wanting to play football; when he realized he would have been unable to play because of eligibility issues, he just kept working.

For some time later, he went to work at Burlington Factory in Madison, N.C., working third shift operating a forklift.

He then moved to Patrick County and went to work at Stanley Chevrolet as a mechanic.  With this job, he was sent to technician school where he learned to work on air conditioning for vehicles. He then began working for B & J Trucking, and after a period of asking to drive a truck, he was allowed to make one trial trip.  He loved it, becoming an over-the-road trucker, and traveled to all of the contiguous states except Maine.

Willard drove for B & J for 10 years, but a life on the road revealed more temptation than he could bear, and he became addicted to crystal meth. He checked into Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute for rehab treatment for 34 days for substance abuse.  He then attended an outpatient program offered at Martinsville Memorial Hospital.

He said that the individual who ran the program talked to him more about the Lord than the drugs.  That was a turning point for him.  He was saved shortly after that and has been drug-free since 2000.

“You’ve got to want to change; you’ve got to want it for yourself,” Willard said.

He joined True Gospel Baptist Church where his wife, Carol, was already a member.  He became a Sunday school teacher for seven or eight years, and stopped driving a truck.  Willard started working at Hardee’s, where he moved from cook to shift leader and eventually to store manager.

He worked part time at the Patrick County school bus garage as a substitute bus driver.  When an opportunity to become a full-time bus driver presented itself, Willard learned he was not qualified. He needed a GED to obtain the job, so he decided to enroll in the Patrick County Adult Education Program.  When he entered the GED program, he was a fast track student.

Math was his weakest subject, and he attributes passing the math portion of the GED test to his teacher, Mary Jane Taylor, who was “a blessing, a Godsend,” Willard said.

He drove a school bus route for two school years. After the second year, he was unable to pass his Department of Transportation (DOT) physical, so he decided that was his sign to go into the ministry full time.

“God had plans for me, my entire life,” Willard said.

Everything that happened in his life — even the negative things like dropping out of school, drug addictions — all had led him to the ministry, and later, his formation of the Disaster Relief Food Ministry.

Willard said his GED helped in so many aspects of establishing his ministry, from paperwork to building his board of directors, to all the things he needed to do to make the ministry a success.

“Disaster Relief Food Ministry is not just a food bank; it is an organization that can assist individuals during a disaster.  Disasters happen in many forms, from a death in the family to a natural disaster.  Any disaster can set a family back,” Willard said.

The successful establishment of the Disaster Relief Food Ministry, and all things he does now, hinged on the confidence that obtaining his GED gave him.

Willard attributes his strength and success to his wife, without whom he said he would not be here today.  Carol Willard stood by him through everything and was a huge part of his recovery, he said.  Willard visits the Patrick County Jail to minister to inmates on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 5 p.m.

For more information on the Disaster Relief Food Ministry, visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DisasterReliefFoodMinistry.