Who We Are
Noah’s Ark was founded by Rick Evans in 2010. He was Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa, a proud father of three daughters .Rick was raised on the streets by a prostitute and an alcoholic father. He has been through all walks of life from ex- gang leader, homelessness, drug addiction and more. He has lived in almost fifty different residents growing up but always had a strong faith in God and love for people.
Rick joined the United States Army in 1989 and is now a retired veteran. He has spent three years in Iraq from 2005-2007. A recent setback in his life has caused him to take a closer look at others and use the experiences and adversities to help strengthen and change lives of the men who are desperately struggling in today’s society. The vision of Noah’s Ark came to Rick during some of his darkest days. The ideas are a combination of the pains and cries for help of men who’s paths he crossed. Unlike many other leaders Rick does not have a wall of glorified accomplishments that gives him the academic upper hand, but when it comes to experience, trails and tribulations his testimonies alone can bring tears to your eyes. Today aside from being the proud owner of a business in Dunwoody, Georgia, Rick is now married and has been actively making a name for himself by cleaning up the communities that surround him. His passions are driven by the high crime rates, unemployment, poverty and inability of the people that he sees everyday not taking action.
To jump-start (Noah’s Ark) Rick decided to walk to Johnson State Prison in Georgia from 901 Rice Street Jail which was 139 miles broken down into seven days June 20th 2011. He gave a motivational speech at Rice Street jail in Atlanta at the start of the walk and gave another speech at the completion at Johnson State Prison on the 27th June 2011. The entire event was monitored by media. He had support and pledges for each mile that he walked. The proceeds went towards further development of Noah’s Ark and establishing programs that produce results for our children while meeting prisoners at the gate when released.
Ricks vision of Noah’s Ark is just what society needs today. We need to bring the programs to the people that need them. We are going to go out into the streets with the idea of each one reaching one. Our input will have an impact and we’ll pride ourselves on more action and less words with total community involvement. Just like it takes a village to raise a child it is going to take a village to save them.