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Employee Spotlight
Mr. Sheppard fights for what’s right. From his role in getting a confederate flag removed from South Mountain High School in the 60s, to his never-ceasing advocacy for his Keys to Change clients every day, he keeps his heart in the game.
“I really see why people speak so highly of this man. He’s so compassionate,” says Deborah, a recent Keys to Change client who is now housed. When a room opened up for her at Bridge 95, she recalls, "Mr. Sheppard personally helped me move my things.”
Mr. Sheppard’s resume shows a deep 50-year career of community-building. He’s worked in group homes with at-risk youth, many of whom remain in contact; he was instrumental in the launch of the UMOM New Day Center, which still serves hundreds of unhoused women and families daily; in the 90s he and his wife created a homelessness hotline, which they ran out of their home; and in 2013 he started his own nonprofit called Arizona Advocates for ex-Offenders. He’s been in the room and at the table with civil rights giants including Jesse Jackson, and shows no sign of slowing down.
When asked what keeps him going at 80 years old, Mr. Sheppard says, “Honey I’ve been around and I haven’t seen anything like [Key Campus] before. I mean we really help a lot of folks. It’s the best I’ve seen or worked at because of the variety of services we offer. In my opinion they need the Campus nationwide.” A believer in continuous improvement, Mr. Sheppard started an on-Campus Employee Advocacy group to lift Keys to Change employee voices to our leaders.
When he says he’s been around, he really means it! Mr. Sheppard’s passion, in part, comes from his time in prison, where he learned first-hand how very difficult our systems and society make it to re-integrate. During his time at Tucson Rincon Prison, he became the first inmate to start and operate a community support program from within the facility. “I think everyone deserves a second chance...I went three times.”
Throughout it all, he remains powerfully, unshakably hopeful. “You’d be surprised about how far hope carries. No matter how much someone is going through, I never get to the point to say “no there’s nothing I can do.” So I keep the hope alive...it’ll at least keep them going just one more day.” Or as he likes to say, “it’s hard by the yard but a cinch by the inch.”
So what’s next? “I can’t predict how long life will last but I always say I’ll have the biggest 90th birthday party of the century – so I’ve got another 10 good years,” says Mr. Sheppard. “Whatever God has for me after that...I’m just not ready to quit, not ready to sit down.”
Mr. Sheppard, we’re lucky to have you! Thank you for all the lives you’ve touched, and for all the work you do!
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