Greg

I was raised in Toronto in the Jane & Finch corridor, on the Southside in Driftwood/Grandervine. My family wasn’t materially rich but we always had what we needed. We lived in a violent environment, I chose to be apart of it, in almost every aspect of it.  I would take negative things that were done or said to me and keep them inside my heart.  I bottled up everything inside me. I was suspended 13 times in grade 4. The first time I got in trouble I was about 10 years of age.

My family and I ended up moving out of that area just down the street to Jane and Shepherd. I started getting into more problems with the law but I didn’t go to jail or court.  We ended up moving to Hamilton when I was 14.  I made up my mind before leaving to come to Hamilton to get arrested so I would get to go back to Toronto.

But everything started to take a turn for the worst when I came here. I started selling drugs, getting involved with guns and a whole lot of things. I was starting to become the type of person who didn’t care about anything at all.  I got kicked out of high school and my Vice Principal who cared a lot for me, got me into a school named St. Charles.

It was at this new school I met  a guy who introduced me to Fredrick, and from then everything kept getting better. Fredrick told me about Liberty For Youth and how they help a lot of youth. The thing I liked about Liberty is that…they actually really cared. They would go out of their way and help so many young people, and that caught my eye.

Last summer Liberty had their Police and Youth Unity Basketball game with the Hamilton Police, and we got to play basketball with some of the very same police officers that arrested us.

I am a changed man and no matter what happens I am never going back,  so I am going straight towards my future in God.

Gregory