Tony’s Story: The Transformative Power of Work

Over the past 14 years, Tony Velez and his wife Dannielle have seen a lot from their home on N. 17th and North Avenue.  It wasn’t always peachy on 17th street. The neighbors struggled with gang activity, gun-violence, fighting on the block, and abandoned properties. But one summer they saw something new that symbolized a rebirth of Tony’s childhood neighborhood, something that reaffirmed their commitment to stay put and raise their seven children in Lindsay Heights: a group of teenagers and elders in the neighborhood planting peach trees next to the restored Walnut Way house.

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Jeff’s Story: A Springboard of Wellness

Jeff didn’t know a knock on his door in the fall of 2014 would be a “game changer” as he calls it. He was down on his luck, depressed, staying at a family member’s home that was almost condemned. Unemployed and still recovering emotionally from a recent stint in jail, life was bleak. But then two men from Walnut Way – Terron Edwards and Maanaan Sabir – knocked on his door, introduced themselves, and invited him to the next Men’s Wellness Peer Group.

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