Manny was too hard core for someone so young. He was 12
years old, full of anger, flashing gang signs and defiant to all of our staff,
especially Free Harris. As a Latino male, Manny had been trained by his
‘hood’ to hate black people like Free. But Free didn’t see a rage-filled thug
that others described (despite the fact that Manny called him a racial slur the
first time they met). Instead Free saw a young man, alive with the fire
of youth who had never been given a chance, until he came to YMC. Free
kept showing up consistently, with love, to deliver the message “You have gifts
to offer this world.” “You were born with a purpose and together it’s our
job to discover it.” At YMC Manny was able to explore and understand the
wounds that made him retreat behind the gangster image. Eventually the
real Manny began to emerge: a gentle, peaceful soul that found healing in our
community. One day in a group of young men Manny told the story of how
this loving black man transformed his heart.
Then Manny got up, walked across the room and embraced Free with a deep,
soulful hug. It became Manny’s trademark. He had a knack for
sensing the perfect moment to step in and offer an embrace to another young man
ready to make the same move towards life that Manny had made. Manny made the
move
from thugs to hugs.
The final tactic in our master plan was to give Manny one of
the coolest mentors ever - radio and TV personality Chuey Martinez, who has
been described as “the Latino Ryan Seacrest” and “the next big thing to hit
Hollywood”. Chuey approaches mentoring like he does everything else - he
shows up big every time. It’s a great relationship.
Manny lights up when he sees Chuey and they
always greet each other with a big hug. Yep, turns out they are both
huggers.
Last night Manny showed up in my office to thank me for all
he has received from YMC and for the person he has become. He spoke with
pride about his improving grades. I could see a man emerging from the
former gang member. When we first met him, Manny told us he was going to drop
out. Now, Manny is going to graduate, like 96% of our mentees. Then
he thanked me for teaching him to be a peacemaker. He said he visited one
of his ex-rival’s homes, submitted to a “pat-down” and, negotiated a peace
agreement that ended in his bitter rival embracing him. They had crossed
over, from thugs to hugs.
Just as Manny finished telling his story, Chuey showed up,
almost on cue, and you can guess how they greeted each other!
So you can see why I shed a tear when Manny and Chuey left
my office. But what you can’t see is my heart breaking, because the
program that Manny relied on for three years will shut down -- unless we can
raise $160,000 in December and January. Almost 160 mentees and
mentors will be without the structure of YMC’s Odyssey and Hero’s Journey
programs.
Please give Manny back the program that changed his life and
give others the same opportunity. Anything you can do will help.
Can you also identify just 5 friends and personally ask them
to help us raise these funds? Be a real and critical part of turning
around and saving lives. If we can raise these funds over the next couple
of weeks, you will give troubled youths the greatest Christmas present
they could ever want – their lives.
Peace and blessings,
Tony LoRe
Founder,
Youth Mentoring Connection
Donate in 3 Easy Steps!
- Click Give Now
- Select "Make a Donation" (Left side of Homepage)
- Choose Amount of your Donation!
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