GASTONIA, N.C. -- At 20 years old, Toren Gordon was playing football for Western Carolina University. He'd graduated from North Gaston High School and hoped to go pro.
He admits he was hanging with the wrong crowd, committing crimes and carrying a gun.
Then, one night at a nightclub in Maggie Valley, there was a fight.
"A thousand people," he remembers. "Gunshots start ringing, and I fired my weapon 11 times."
He was arrested for second-degree murder, convicted of voluntary manslaughter and went to prison.
"What worked for me -- I got saved, gave my life to the Lord," he said. "I made a decision to start making better decisions. That was the first decision I made."
While Gordon was in prison, he started working. He got married and had a child. By the time he got out five years later, he was a team leader at his job. He had also begun telling his story to kids.
His activism led him to his new job as director of Life Bridge, a program that assists offenders after their prison sentences are over. Since August, Gordon has operated a small home for men who were just released.
Life Bridge is a part of Fresh Start of Gaston County. The community organization is funded through grants and donations. It is closely affiliated with Friendship Christian Church on West Bradley Street.
"It's ultimately about public safety," Gordon said. "We're knocking down the barriers that cause a person to want to commit crime, i.e. employment, housing. We offer food, clothing, we offer transportation."
The home has room for four men and the residents are chosen by application. The first goal is to get the men working, and searching for a job is their primary responsibility. The rules are strict -- no drugs, no cigarettes, no tolerance -- but the program is tailored to each resident's needs.
"I hadn't never had a banking account," Marty Camp explained. He spent nearly 20 years in prison for second-degree murder for killing his sister. "I didn't even know how to use a cell phone when I got out."
With Gordon's help, Camp began work sewing furniture at Hester Enterprises, Inc. in Gastonia even before he left prison. His bosses, Jan and Tom Hester, say he works hard and gets along well with the other employees.
Camp says he is a changed man, but he needed the help of Life Bridge. "It’s just something basically God's doing that I couldn't do."
Gordon's activism includes speaking to many different groups of at-risk people and mentoring gang members. He is a trusted advisor on recidivism issues to Gaston County Sheriff Alan Cloninger and spoke before the North Carolina StreetSafe task force Cloninger serves on.
"There's a lot of men who would never go back [to prison] and we hope to reach that group and cultivate them to be productive members of society," Gordon said. "From a humble standpoint, I would say look at me."
