I'd like to call your attention to today…

October 9th, 2012…and I want you to read this with an open mind. Please read it to the end…because what I'm about to tell you is important to me…and I really need your help.

On October 9th, 2011 I was told to leave my family home. My actions and my words were the cause of the expulsion. Shortly after, I attempted to walk from Athens, Alabama to the city of Huntsville, hoping that I could get to a friend's house to spend the night. Half way through my journey I was struck by a truck while walking along the highway, it was hit and run and I was left shoeless, disorientated and bleeding heavily. I made my way to the brightest lights that my dizzied mind could find and knocked on a door. The elderly couple that answered were shocked and concerned to put it mildly, a bloodied, dirty kid showing up on your doorstep in the middle of the night isn't part of the norm to say the least. They called the ambulance, and the state troopers and I was taken to the Athens Emergency Room, I where I was told that I had a Fractured Ulna bone, Severe Contusions, and several deep lacerations that nearly required stitches. I was released from the Hospital at two the next morning, October 10th, 2011. Drugged and still shoeless, I attempted to walk the nearly fifteen miles to my parents' house, desperate to get home, I made a wrong turn and ended wandering the outskirts of Athens trying to find someone. I was picked up by a police officer who thought I was a run away and he took me to the place I called home. I slept on my parents' lawn that night, hoping, praying that their anger would abate and they would allow me back into the house.

I woke the next day to my siblings leaving for school and I crawled my way to the front door and tried to persuade my mother to let me in. She refused and closed the door, out of options and in severe pain I made my way to the next door neighbor's house and asked to use their phone. I called the only number I knew by heart. Jacqueline Kliner. I remember her trying to calm me, how she ran to get her mother and they both asked where I was, was I feeling okay, did I have any other clothes. They waited for Mr. Kliner to get home before both Jackie and her father drove from somewhere in Tennessee to Athens to come get me.
The shame I felt, to know that I was just a kid with no money, or anything to pay them back for their kindness hurt deeper than anything I had ever felt. They helped me out of the kindness of their hearts, and just the love that they showed me, someone that Jackie had only met once, and talked to just a handful of times helped me stop wallowing and get motivated to do something with my life. They put me up in a homeless shelter, gave me money for snacks and food during the day, paid for my cellphone, came and visited me almost every Sunday, took me to get my arm looked at, and just cared for me beyond anything I could hope for. I would walk to the career center almost every day looking for a job, anything that would help my situation at all. That was when I found Job Corps. A school for underprivileged teens and adults. A school where I would learn a trade, become a productive part of society. Have a chance to have a career in a good field and get back on my feet.
I completed my training for good on August 24th, 2012, a licensed Certified Nurse's Assistant and left the Job Corps center able to provide for myself and able to pursue a career in the Medical Field.

This is my story and the reason why I'm sharing it with you now, is because I want you to look outside today, and see, the many kids that might be wandering the streets, with nowhere to go, no one to look after them, no guarantee that they'll have a bed to sleep in tonight. What I want you to do, is take five minutes out of your day to look up a Homeless Shelter in your area, and donate a can of food. If you see a kid wandering the streets, or holding a sign, a dollar could mean the difference between a hot meal and a hungry tummy.
This is not just for the kids though, many adults are on the street, and while some of them might have made bad decisions, some are there because of hard times.

All I ask is that you remember those that are less fortunate.

I was once one of those kids that you see sitting on a corner, and till my dying day, I will always remember the hopelessness and the fear.

Thank you for taking the time to read this…

Candace