WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

This past Monday we celebrated our veterans. Thank you for your service to our great country.

Today I’d like to celebrate 29-year-old Will C. Rivers of Winston-Salem. His story is one that will truly inspire you. Will’s military service started on Jan. 28, 2008, and included two tours of duty.

“I served in Helmand, Afghanistan, and received two meritorious promotions, one in boot camp and the other post-deployment for actions performed in Afghanistan in 2009.  After the second tour of duty, I realized the toll the deployments were taking on my mother, who was severely stricken with health issues. I decided to get out for the sake of caring for my mother.”

Sadly, after Rivers came home, like a lot of our veterans, he unfortunately had a rough time finding a job. His grandmother and mother always taught him that there’s power in prayer, so he began praying for a job. God came through. “I eventually got a job at Dicks Sporting Goods and Wilco Hess.  A customer who came through my line at both stores in the same day offered me a job at B/E Aerospace.  I worked there for three years and during that time my mother passed away, as well as both grandmothers.”

Will’s faith was tested both by losing his mother and grandmothers and by his frustration with the lack of care the hospital provided. “I joined the Winston-Salem Fire Department and promised to never put a patient or their family through what my family went through during our crisis.”

While in training, he became the class president and won the Vivian Burke Character Award. After Will was assigned to his permanent fire station, he wanted to do more, so he applied and was hired as an EMT with NuCare. “I worked at NuCare for four months and realized that there was still another way I can give back. I do that now by working as an armed public safety corporal for Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center.”

He also is a student at Davidson County Community College.I asked Will what role his mother played in the phenomenal young man he’s turned out to be.

“We didn’t have the best upbringing, we literally were splitting beans down the middle, it was rough. We had to go without water, lights and stuff, but we’re still here. My mom was resilient in everything that she was, regardless how bad it got, we never had to worry about anything.”

Rivers said he and his siblings are blessed to have had a mother like theirs. She taught them well, “I got a sister that owns a business, one brother that is multi-talented in pretty much everything, another brother that held the same job from 16 and now 25. None of us are in jail or selling drugs, we’re doing well.” He said his mother didn’t have it easy.

“I remember when my mother had her first heart attack, and she lost her job and was waiting on her disability to come in. At four o’clock in the morning while she thought we were still asleep, we heard her crushing soda cans just to get enough money to pay the rent.”

Rivers is another testimony of: It’s not what you go through, but how you choose to rise above it. The Winston-Salem native said his mom left him and his siblings the blueprint on how to survive. “All we have to do now is build the house.”

Will C. Rivers’ story is very inspiring and leaves no excuse for failure nor for giving up hope. His story is also a testament of the power of prayer and faith.

Go to our YouTube channel Winstonsalem Chronicle to see the rest of my interview with Will. He talks about his up- and-coming business for youth, a very heart-warming story about some Scriptures he found in his mother’s chest of drawers that helped guide him and gave him strength through days when he wanted to give up, and more. Also ladies, he shares why the WSPD doesn’t have a calendar – it gave me a good laugh.