“It’s a family you never leave and you never lose.” - Clemente Salley
Change your mind, change everything ODAAT’s messages didn’t resonate at first, Salley says, but they planted a seed that stuck in his mind for life, a seed that slowly took root and grew every time he left and came back to the program. Breaking the pattern of the streets took work, Salley says, and required him to readjust his entire mindset. The streets had taught him to walk in “arrogant, egotistical confrontation,” he says, constantly on the lookout for someone to challenge. He began comprehending a more fulfilling way of life when the Wells family took him into their home in the late ‘90s. He says that living with and caring for its aging founder, Rev. Wells, exposed him to daily revelations in gratitude, humility, and caring. He stopped looking for a hidden agenda behind others’ good actions, which freed him from a “prove yourself ” mentality. Love unconditionally
The concept of unconditional love slowly crept into Salley’s lexicon through ODAAT and the Wells family, and it sank in deeper in 2015 when Salley met the woman who would become his fiancée. Through her, Salley says he has come to realize that sometimes the best reward for doing good is the ability to continue doing so, and the opportunity to influence others along the way. “I never thought I could learn so much from a woman about how to be a man,” says Salley. Salley has been working a recovery program for more than two decades now, and he says he still gains wisdom every day. He remains deeply involved with staff and clients at ODAAT, whom he has come to view as family, thanks to a continuous flow of unconditional love. “It’s a family you never leave and you never lose,” he says. “They’re always there for you even when you snub them.”
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