Meet David…

I am forever grateful to the officer who arrested me, he changed my life forever.

Every single day I wake up in prison, I am so grateful. It may sound crazy, but the absolute best thing that happened to me was getting sent to prison. If I didn’t, I would likely be dead or doing life. I was mad at the world, blaming my horrible painful childhood on the way I lived. I used to get beat, tortured, and locked in a closet with nothing to eat for days on end. Then I had to watch my older sister get hurt for trying to sneak me a piece of food. I was homeless, drug addicted and packing a gun by 14. I listened to the world tell me that I would amount to nothing.

Now’s my chance to prove them wrong. Once I took accountability for my actions, it was like a hidden door inside of me opened. I am proud to say, today, I am the best version of myself. I am clean, sober, fit, healthy and I have employment opportunities when I parole. I am pursuing a degree in English. I have an amazing relationship with God. I am a student in the Journalism Guild with S.Q. newspaper and much more. I am loving, compassionate, a leader, a friend and a respected member of my community. At 30, after a whole life of drugs, violence, betrayal, and negativity, for the first time, I know I will be somebody. I have paid my debt to society.

I am forever grateful to the officer who arrested me, he changed my life forever. I had somebody drop a letter off to the Clear Lake Police Department letting him know how much he changed my life. I sincerely believe there is a tipping point in people’s lives where certain things happen and the decision they make will affect their life forever. I made a choice to rise above the drug and prison drama. To be my own man, to utilize every tool and opportunity provided to me, to become a better human.

I have no doubt I will succeed. I will continue to move forward, meet a girl, have kids, buy a house, BBQ with my family and never take a second for granted. I am launching a program called Up Lift the Lake, hoping to work with churches in my area to open a community center. I have many ideas to prevent kids from going down the same path I did. I want to give them an ear and shoulder to lean on.