As Ford Authority reported some time ago, Ford CEO Jim Farley has been volunteering at the Pope Francis Center, the oldest church building in continuous use in Detroit, for years now. There, Farley serves meals to the homeless, hands out clothing and other essentials, and even helps to clean the kitchen, all of which stems from his desire to help those struggling with addiction following the untimely death of his cousin, comedian, and TV/movie star Chris Farley, who overdosed on drugs at the age of 33.
This Christmas season, Farley was back at the Pope Francis Center, once again meeting with the homeless and volunteering his time to help with those very same efforts. However, this time, the executive received a very special gift from a man named Allan Webster, who has himself struggled with addiction, according to the Detroit Free Press. That gift was a Ford Model T pickup model, which was created by Webster himself, who grew up demonstrating promise as a budding artist.
Despite this promise, Webster’s life was derailed at the age of 12, when his parents divorced, which happened amid various other problems. “I never really had a father figure in my life. He was a bad alcoholic,” Webster said – adding that he wound up falling victim to the same vice. “I used to tell (my mom), when I was in other programs, because I was drinking, I told her I was going to do good this time, I was going to stay sober and boom I would relapse,” Webster said. “I did it so many times that when I tell her now she says, ‘I’ve heard this a million times.’ So I gotta show her, actually show her that I’m doing better.”…