During my younger years, I had a really rough time adapting to the things changing around me. That problem causes larger issues such as getting kicked out of schools, fighting, etc. I moved to Cleveland in 2016. I started off going to Iowa Maple and made a few bad decisions before getting expelled. I started school at FDR and still didn't care for education. My siblings still attended Iowa Maple and they had the opportunity to join Food Strong's Green Team at the school. They invited me to the meeting and I didn't make a great first impression at all. I fought as soon as I met Ms.Sara. She allowed me to cool down and still attend the meeting. I continued attending the meetings because it provided a place to clear my head, I was surrounded by loving people, and I had no reason to be angry. The whole Food Strong experience changed my whole perspective on how I look at life, it showed me that I could use my anger and change the problems I saw instead of creating more problems and hurting others by the actions I was taking.

I started my own project called Golden Stepping Stones, for which I help those in need and from broken homes. My target is youth but I am very open to helping everyone. I've held multiple events such as clothing giveaways, school supplies gives aways, book giveaways, and a large event where I brought in multiple resources such as Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Greater Cleveland Foodbank, Cleveland Metro Parks, Job and Family Services, National Gaurd, etc. We also gave the youth in the neighborhood to promote their talents to record labels, dj’s, and many producers. After my large events, I attended many radio shows and conferences to promote my project. While doing that I was still volunteering for many nonprofits around the city including Food Strong. I've written several grants for my project with Food Strong supporting me as my fiscal sponsor.

The reason I am very passionate about this project is I want to be able to help provide the community I live in with vital needs. I have witnessed firsthand the impact that Food Strong can make. This shipping container will not only allow the organization to store its many program supplies and construct various agricultural additions around it, but it will also bring socialization and much-needed in-person education into the community. It will help Food Strong continue to will also support access to fresh foods in an area where it is really needed (East Cleveland). This will also help teach people the importance of agriculture during times like the Covid-19 Pandemic when food insecurity continues to rise. I am also very passionate because this gives me the opportunity to continue doing what I love which is helping people. Food Strong will allow me to store my materials for Golden Stepping Stones in the container so that I can continue to offer resources to those in need (and the need continues to rise due to the pandemic). We don't know where life is going to take us, but I want to help people prepare.