During this time of the year, you’ll most likely find Ed Sykes outside a grocery store in a Santa suit, ringing a bell, greeting customers and collecting donations for The Salvation Army.

This year, The Salvation Army has seen a surprising shortage of bell ringers, but they were able to count on Sykes to volunteer each week from Black Friday to Christmas Eve at the farthest location, just like he’s been doing for the past five years.

“I try to take the furthest away from here to save them the most money and effort,” he said.

Sykes started off as a paid bell ringer almost five years ago. While the job was temporary, he enjoyed his experience so much, he said that he’d come do it for free whenever they needed help. He’s been coming back ever since.

“I do it because I really enjoy it. It’s my way of giving back to the community,” he said. “For most of my life I wasn’t a particularly nice guy. This is just my way of repaying back in a small way for the things I did in my youth.”

When he was young, Sykes ended up in the juvenile system for car thefts and burglaries. As an adult, his bad habits spiraled and he was dealing drugs among other crimes.

“I was a taker not a giver,” he said.

His sins caught up with him soon enough, and he was arrested in 1997. Syke’s redemption story started when he entered prison.

“I told myself if I was going to prison, I wouldn’t be a worse person when I got out, and I was going to do everything I could do improve myself,” he said. “Typically people come out of prison worse off then when they came in. I didn’t want to be one of those people. I told myself I was not getting myself into that system. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who got in and out of prison. It’s just not going to happen to me. I’m not going play that game. So I took it upon myself to change my life.”

Committed to turning a new leaf, Sykes took every class he could and read every self improvement book he got his hands on. He worked three jobs just to survive and buy basic necessities.

“It’s nothing like what you see in the movies and TV,” Sykes said. “That’s over-dramatized than the actual reality of what prison life is like. It’s very regimented. Everything is done by the clock. They keep you on a schedule. For the most part, it keeps people out of trouble.

“You can still get involved with gangs and stuff if you choose to. I chose not to…. I just walked my own path. It caused problems for me, but it also got me respect. People realized that I was in to do my time, not theirs, and I wasn’t going to play their games.”

Sykes worked three jobs while he served his 16-year sentence, including working at the library, at the rec department and as an ESL (English as a second language) tutor. Working at the library and as an ESL tutor, Sykes said he learned how to deal with people personally and “help them attain their potential.”

“By helping others, I was helping myself,” he added.

After being released in 2013, Sykes said was a changed man, and soon, the people around him started noticing the difference.

“When I got out, everyone expected me to be the same guy they knew when I went in,” he said. “It literally took months before people saw and treated me differently. Now I have great relationships with family and friends. Before I went into prison, they wanted nothing to do with me. Now I’m embraced with open arms.”

Now, Sykes lives in Tukwila. He volunteers for The Salvation Army and is also heavily involved with Journey Ministries, a nonprofit that provides support and resources for positive behavioral change.

Each week, he continues to gear up in his Santa suit, greet customers outside grocery stores, and prove that he’s now a giver rather than a taker.