Goodwill retail stores fund dreams

ASHEVILLE – Reliant on charities and public assistance most of his life, Henry Thornton always had to put his passions on hold to survive.

His mom made him join the Army when he dropped out of high school in Brooklyn at 17. He came home an alcoholic and found himself on the streets of New York. He went to prison several times on drug charges. For 20 years, he was nearly always homeless.

"I'd sit on the corner and people would at look at me like I was a piece of trash," said Thornton, 51, who now lives in West Asheville. "They didn't know who I was, and I didn't have any help."

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