Four neediest cases: senior

The day his grandmother died his life fell apart. Everyone and everything he knew changed. He began to go down a path that he never thought he would go down. Told he was not going to graduate, sleeping in abandoned cars and resorting to drugs to take the pain away, the world seemed to be against him.

In a time where he thought his family would bind over the grief of his grandmother, his family collapsed. His grandmother was the glue that held his family together and when she passed so did his family as he knew it. When his mother began to threaten to physically harm him, he packed his bags. He left his house with the hope someone with a stable enough home would take him in.

“[When I was sleeping in the cars] I had no blankets, no coats or anything,” he said. “ I didn’t have anyone to turn to. My dad was there, but the [verbal violence] that was happening at my mom’s house [was happening there]. ”

After weeks of drifting from different houses and abandoned cars he landed at his brother’s doorstep. His brother, a KHS alum, was exactly in the same boat five years ago and was the only family member he felt completely comfortable staying with.

“The only person that was there for me was my brother [after I left my mom’s],” he said. “My brother lives in the city. It’s still not a stable home though, it’s on and off at my brother’s house. Sometimes I get so mad at my sister [who lives at the house] that I just don’t want to be there anymore.

Even though he has a roof over his head now, he still doesn’t feel like he has a home. With no structure or curfew he is free to cope with the pain of the world, in which he is in, for hours bleeding into the morning.

“When I do live there I really don’t live there,” he said. “Everyday I get up, get ready and leave. Leave to my girlfriend’s house, come back around 1 or 2 a.m., and go to bed.”

Once he moved out of his mom’s house, he was thrown into the adult world with so much haste it changed his worldview permanently. No longer he was child attempting to be an adult, but rather an adult wanting to be a child again. However, no world view could fix the people and events leading to his pain. His grandma was still dead, his mom was still lashing out at him and he still didn’t have enough credits to graduate.

“I was on the verge of not graduating a year ago,” he said. “[The counselors] sent me to VISTA, and I just graduated today. It was probably the best thing for me. I am caught up and I’m set to graduate on time. I like proving people wrong, the people who told me I wasn’t going to graduate.”

Coming back from VISTA to KHS has given him hope in his future. He’s leaving the past behind him and attempting to create a new future. A future that starts with an education.

“There’s not a day that I’m not going to come [to KHS] because I need to graduate. [The counselors and my family] thought I was going to be someone sleeping on the sidewalk, selling drugs. I just want to prove those people wrong. I want to graduate, go to college, and major in engineering.”

Donation List:

Person A (male):
Shoes – size 9 1/2
Shirt – medium
Pants – medium
Gloves
Coat
Gift card – Foot Locker
Phone
Kids toys (ages 3, 5, 6 and 11)