Many people have told him he has a familiar spirit; they feel like they've known him for years because he makes them feel so comfortable.

But Michael J. Fowler doesn't let the adulation go to his head. He says he takes it all in stride.

Maybe that's what sets Fowler, 29, apart from the rest. He has a life story replete with struggle and strife, yet he says he just wants to be a vessel to help others.

Though he has faced a lot of adversity in his life, Fowler is the first to let you know that he's not a troubled person -- just a man who has learned from a troubled past.

Soft-spoken and reserved, except for the occasional throaty chuckle, Fowler sits, cross-legged, and with a voice that never climbs above a loud whisper, calmly talks about the painful experiences in his past.

A Farrell native, Fowler says he spent most of his early childhood living with his mother in the city's low-income housing projects. He says he saw things that no child should ever have seen.

"It was very bad where we were at," he says. "I heard gunshots ... people would set cars on fire ... it was difficult."

Fowler adds that moving to the neighborhood in Farrell was a "culture shock" to him because he and his mother had been used to living in a very different locality.

"It was difficult going from a mostly white, retirement neighborhood to a mostly black, impoverished neighborhood," he says. "The hardest thing was I was like probably one of the few white kids in the neighborhood."

Fowler says that while he didn't have many friends growing up, the one person who did befriend him also introduced him to alcohol.

"Alcohol ... it helped me deal with the stress and anxiety of the environment I was in," he says.

Fowler says by age 13, he was gulping down an entire pint of Bacardi Rum without blinking.

After his initial introduction to alcohol, Fowler says he graduated to sniffing inhalants and once overdosed on his mother's Xanax prescription.

"By the time I was 14, I'd changed for the worst," he says.

Though he says he's never been violent, Fowler says he did join a gang -- the Trouble Crew -- and began indulging in criminal activities, like breaking into cars and destroying private property.

He says his life of crime stopped when a man performed a citizen's arrest after Fowler, high on speed and alcohol, broke into a car and frightened the elderly owner.

Fowler says he was sent to a drug and alcohol treatment program in Erie and then to George Junior Republic in Pine Township. The judge who handled his case didn't think he was ready for release, so he sent Fowler to the Adelphoi Village program in Latrobe, Fowler says.

Fowler says he was supposed to stay at Adelphoi for only six to nine months, but he ended up staying 11 months.

"I went against everything they were telling me," Fowler admits, but he adds that "they do have a good aftercare program. They really follow up on their kids."

He says he got baptized while he was in the program, which made him feel "clean and refreshed" and also renewed his faith in God.

"If it wasn't for Adelphoi, I'd be either dead or I'd have went to prison," he says.

After Fowler left Adelphoi at age 15, he says he was sent back to the same austere environment he'd left behind in Farrell.

He says he thought about dropping out, but ended up completing his studies with a 3.9 grade point average.

Fowler says the decision to attend college came while he was working at a welding plant. He knew he didn't want a lifelong career working menial jobs.

"I decided ... this ain't for me, and I cleaned up my act," he says.

That was when he resolved to give college a try.

Fowler says he excelled while in college and made the dean's list twice. But just as he was finding his path, Fowler says his mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

He says he took care of her from then until the very end of her life.

"For the next year," he says solemnly, "I was like a soldier for my mom. I wouldn't accept the fact that she could die."

Since he was an only child, Fowler says, he was all his mother had to depend on.

"To me, she made up two parents in one," he says.

He adds that his mother felt guilty because she got sick just as he was preparing to graduate from college.

"When I did graduate, she ended up in the hospital and almost died," he says.

He graduated from Penn State Shenango in December 2000 with a bachelor's degree in human development and family studies. Nothing makes him prouder than showing off his diploma.

Fowler says his life changed drastically after his 57-year-old mother died in December 2001, because not only did he lose his beloved mother, his fiancee walked out on him soon afterward.

While working through all his pain, Fowler says he managed to hold down a job at Specialized Treatment Services in Mercer County. He says the best thing about his job was working with the kids.

"It's not the money that's important," he says. "The wealth comes from helping people."

Fowler displays some of the drawings and letters the kids wrote to him after he left the center. Showing off the pieces brings a smile to his face.

"My whole idea is that if I meet 100 kids in my life ... if I get through to at least one and he changes ... if I die, I'll die in peace knowing I made a difference in somebody's life.

"If one kid makes it, then I've done my job," he says.

Fowler says that through his work, he has learned CPR and first aid, but he sometimes feels down because he's almost 30 years old and remains unemployed.

He says he eventually wants to work on getting his master's degree in social work, an associate's degree in computer network administration and open his own social work practice.

"There's so many things I know I could do," Fowler says.

He adds that he wishes to help kids who are in situations very similar to his or who are going down the wrong road.

"A lot of these guys don't realize that they can make it," he says. "They've never had anyone around to help them out."

Though he's still searching for employment and is unsure about his future, Fowler's outlook on life is a positive one.

He has plans to write a book about his life and he says his philosophy on life is simple.

"I realize that sometimes the greatest success story can be found in somebody who is perceived as the biggest failure in life."

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