If life was like a T-shirt, the one for David Wyatt would be made of 100 percent guilt.
"I could be so much further in life right now if I didn't let my addiction to alcohol get the best of me," Wyatt said.
He is a screen printer at the Street2Life print shop. He is also a recovering alcoholic who knew that getting a job in a liquor store in 2013 was a bad idea.
"Just drinking, getting drunk and going to work the next day, that was my life," Wyatt said.
His life ended her life. Amy Galbraith died Dec. 3, 2013, at the corner of 80th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard at the hands of her friend - Wyatt.
"To be honest with you, man. I blacked out. I don't remember anything," Wyatt said. "Apparently, I drove drunk to the liquor store to get more liquor and I wrecked."
He wrecked his car wrapping it around a street light. He wrecked Galbraith's life. He wrecked his body on a blurry night that Wyatt says started with peppermint schnapps and beer.
"The doctors told my parents, my mom that I was going to die," Wyatt said. "I was too mangled and beat up."
He survived to be convicted of vehicular manslaughter and receive a 7-year sentence to prison. While incarcerated, Wyatt says he found God and purpose.
"We read the Bible every day before we work," Wyatt said.
He found his way to Street2Life, a print shop run by John Zolman. Zolman said they don't just make t-shirts and sweatshirt. He says they make a difference in the lives of people like Wyatt.
"Homelessness, coming off drug and alcohol addictions, coming out of prison," Zolman said. "So, basically, people want to get back into society, but don't have the means to do that."
Street2Life is not just the name. It sums up the mission, Zolman said. Give at-risk people a job. Teach them the skills to be successful. Have them stop being homeless.
"So, not only do they come in here, they get off the streets. They have something they're getting paid to do. So, they're getting money, but also something they can be proud of," Zolman said.
Wyatt and other employees work part-time making shirts or other clothing. They spent other time learning soft social skills from a job coach. They learn anger management, conflict resolution, and how to build a resume over a six month period before trying to make it on their own.
"If they can stick with us all six months, their confidence just grows each month," Zolman said.
Wyatt likes that the print shop not only teaches him skills, but it gives people a creative outlet.
"People are wearing what we make and that's kinda cool," Wyatt said.
Zolman says some workers can create and print their own designs.
"Seeing their own artwork on a T-shirt that's physically printed is kinda like a full-circle-type thing," Zolman said.
Street2Life is part of a nonprofit called Open Door Ministries reaching low-income families and those who are at-risk through many different levels - from child care to shelters for abused women to Street2Life.
"We're helping people while making T-shirts," Zolman said.
Wyatt believes he's not just making clothes here, he's is trying to make amends.
"Man, I look back at it now and I'm like, Man I was dumb," Wyatt said.
He is trying to make up for what happened that night. He is trying to make up for killing his best friend.
"There's not a day that goes by to where I wish I would've died, you know, and she would've lived," Wyatt said.
He lives every day in physical pain and still needs more surgeries to repair his battered body.
"I deserve to be in pain," Wyatt said. "Her family's in pain."
Now, he wants to honor his friend by speaking to teens about drunk driving.
"Me, saving lives isn't going to make up for her life being taken, however, it's you know, it's kind of a start," Wyatt said.
He is trying to remake his life starting with a T-shirt that just might say "Regret."
"I want to do everything right," Wyatt said. "I don't want to make mistakes."
