Carl Anderson is home for the holidays. He was last year, too. But last year, home was a 16th Street Mall bench, or a mattress at the Denver Rescue Mission.

He was homeless last Christmas. He is homeless no more.

Now, Anderson has an apartment. His wife, Tammy, is with him. And their daughter, Kirelle.

Last year, he was alone and wasn't sure where he was going to sleep.

"I was five weeks in Jesus Saves, give or take," he said. "I was five weeks in bus stops. I didn't have no place to sleep, no bed. The mall bench - that was my house, man."

His troubles began long before last year. He moved from Louisiana to Denver about 10 years ago. Then he started messing with drugs - dealing and doing. He went to prison, lost his home, almost lost his family.

He was in a halfway house in Colorado Springs - no room in Denver - when he was released.

His wife was pregnant and in jail in Denver. So he came home, even though he had no home to come to.

The baby was due in weeks. And Anderson was sweating. He feared that when his wife gave birth, if he couldn't prove he had a permanent address, the government would take his baby away.

"In order to find a place to live, you have to have a job," he said.

So he was handing out resumes to any business that would take them.

He put up with the glares from people who were better off, tried to ignore others who looked beyond him, not seeing him.

"I was walking and praying," he said.

Thanks to a chance encounter in downtown Denver, he found hope where he had none, a job when he was out of work.

"It all came together like Super Glue," he said.

At the time, Ray Washington was working for A Road Called STRATE, a nonprofit that offers counseling and other help to guys down on their luck as well as fatherhood classes to recently discharged inmates and to single dads or those who have lost custody of their children. STRATE stands for Society's True Rehabilitative Attitude Toward Ex-Offenders. The Colorado Department of Human Services funds the fatherhood program.

"I was on the mall, recruiting dads for my program, handing out cards," Washington said.

Anderson asked Washington what he was doing.

"I handed him a card. I told him to come and see me. And he did," Washington said. "I gave out about 20 cards. He's the only one who came to see me."

Washington brought Anderson into the program.

"They gave me a lead on jobs. They have a clothing bank. They gave me bus tokens. They gave me food, and I didn't have any place to cook it. I was just thankful for the food," Anderson said.

He talked with counselors who helped coach him on interview techniques, who helped him improve his resume. He received clothes for an interview.

And he landed a steady job. He's in sales and customer service for a satellite company.

Now, instead of praying on the streets, Anderson does it in church. He plays piano every Sunday during services at Agape Baptist Church.

"This time last year, I was frustrated, aggravated, disgusted," he said. "I was walking around, trying to find any type of lead on jobs - anything I could do."

Anderson is the youngest of 11 children. He moved to Denver to be close to an older brother, the head of the family. His brother, retired military, sold him a house on the cheap so he could have a place of his own.

Anderson lost it when he got arrested and convicted on the drug charge.

"I let everybody down. I let myself down," he said.

He got over beating up on himself with "a lot of prayer," he said. "The main thing that helped me get out of that was by going to church. That was my biggest help, being able to forgive myself. If God could forgive me, I should be able to forgive myself."

Kirelle is 10 months old. She's almost walking.

Anderson and his family will spend Christmas together as a family - not separated by a legal system that snared them both.

"Without A Road Called STRATE, I'd be lost in a rainstorm, man. I was sweating like a wild hog. The pressure was on," he said.

Now, a year later, life is good - actually better than good for Anderson.

"Every day is Christmas since the baby was born," he said.

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