Melvin’s Story
A life built on faith, family, and service
I’ve seen hard times and good ones, and through all of it the same three things kept our family standing: faith in God, the love of family, and the loyalty of a community that refused to give up on one another.
Melvin Brooks · Author of Live on Purpose
In Melvin’s words
From 1953 on, I was old enough to understand the circumstances of our family life. My older sister Rose and I did what we could to help. The road that led from our shack to the main road was all mud — when it rained, sometimes we’d get stuck. My father worked as a florist making forty-eight dollars a week.
In 1965 we managed to put two hundred dollars down on a house with electricity and plumbing. That was heaven to us. We had fights at times, like any family growing up — but we had each other, and we had faith.
When we live on purpose, we’re operating in the plan God has for our lives — built on the foundation of family, home, and relationships. That’s the message I’ve spent my life learning, and the one I most want to pass on.
The road so far
A shack on a muddy road
Ten of us lived in a one-room shack for nine years — built from lumber off a burned barn, with square nails. A garden, pigs, and chickens helped feed us. We had good, loving parents.
Two worlds become one
I started in an all-Black school. Integration came when I was 13, and we mixed with our white brothers and sisters. I learned early that community is bigger than the walls we’re born inside.
A heart of serving
Faith turned our family’s life around. Now my purpose is to encourage others — to care for the weak, the orphan, and the widow, and to help people build their lives on a foundation that holds.
“The truth of God’s word has turned our life around. Our best days are ahead of us.”
Read the whole story
Melvin tells it all in Live on Purpose. Give $10 or more to support the work and receive your copy.
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