Net of Compassion marks 10 years of growth, service
WORCESTER — Pastor Richie Gonzalez couldn't help stepping outside himself and chuckling during a recent interview.
He spoke with a certain level of incredulity that in his role as founder and director of Net of Compassion, he had participated in an event with Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis.
Gonzalez was quick to point out he served time in jail before Evangelidis' tenure. And he was quicker to point out with a bit of a laugh that an attempted escape from said jail was also before the sheriff took over.
But there he was, years later, shaking hands with the sheriff, accepting a donation of jackets for the human services organization. Gonzalez said he never would have imagined 10 years ago he would go from prison and the throes of addiction to running a 24-hour homeless shelter and working closely with the city. But he also talked about how his life is part of a plan that was laid out in visions he said he had while incarcerated.