Pain into Power

2018, I met with Jessice, who lost her brother to gang violence and had lost all control of everything. She told me during our first meeting that her brother was only a victim of standby violence. She told me during all the pain that was inflicted onto her family, Abbotsford News put her brother on the front page and labeled as a gangster, he was a recent graduate and had just turned 18. Soon those headlines were proven wrong, Jessica started a mentorship program at her brother’s school that year, and one of the graduates of that program is now in uniform, and only a few days ago during a traffic control, I ran into him. My first call after that was to Jessica, who fueled her pain into power, leaving all of us inspired and motivated. Did I mention the narrative was shifted, and a new front page was printed by the same news outlet, but this time a story of resilience was published honoring that victim. Jessica is an inspiration for many of us, and is someone you can connect with if you need any support.