Will O.

AMIkids Tampa

I was verbally and physically abused growing up and by the age of 13, when they took my stepfather away, I was emotionally broken. My mother stood by my stepfather’s side throughout, which made a terrible situation, somehow worse. With no family life, I turned to the streets and started drinking. The alcohol numbed the depression and fear I was feeling, but it also made me violent.

From ages 13 to 15, all I wanted to do was drink and fight. I’d fight anyone, anything, anywhere, and this fighting led me to AMIkids. AMIkids presented a crossroads in my life, one direction was a life of violence, prison, and death; the other was to make something out of my life. At AMIkids, I immediately felt cared for, protected and soon found a path to succeed. I was taught how to be a man, how to be a team player, how to be responsible, and to believe in myself. They also taught me that everything from my childhood was wrong, that it wasn’t my fault, and that my experiences aren’t how it should be. I had some great experiences at AMIkids, and, without even realizing, I had caught up in my grades to where I needed to be to get back in school.

Today, I love my life, I love every inch of it. I have a wife and a son, and I am proud to offer my son the guidance, love, and everything else I was deprived of growing up. I own my own business and am also a life coach, helping others through issues, many similar to what I went through. AMIkids helped me build a foundation to grow from, and that foundation is who I am and who I have become, and that is priceless to me.