Lives Changed . . .

By Richard Harris

Just wanted to share my story with the United Way for the 80 year anniversary...

I was born and raised in a housing project in Chicago, where guns, gangs and drugs were an everyday part of life!  In fact, I witnessed my first murder at the grand ol' age of nine.  I watched a man shot and killed in a dice game over $13.  This taught me that if someone could take your life over such a petty amount of money, life in my neighborhood wasn't worth much.  At the wise age of 14 I became a member of Chicago's biggest and most violent street gang, the Gangster Disciples.  From that point on, my life was one of violence and drug dealing. 

In 1991, myself and several other gang members relocated from Chicago to Kenosha and began a two-year reign of terror; selling drugs and recruiting young kids into the gang.  It would be two years and countless victims later before I was arrested and sent to prison for my gang and drug related crimes.  I was sentenced to 20 years in prison for delivery of crack cocaine and carrying a concealed weapon.  I would ultimately serve 9 years in some of Wisconsin's most secure prisons before being released. 

Amazingly, it was during this time that the Brown County United Way entered my life by funding Self Help of Wisconsin, Inc.  Volunteers from the agency taught me that life was worth more than the petty $13 that caused a man to lose his life in my presence at the age of nine.  They taught me that "life is truly about how many lives you can touch in a positive way before called home to God (Allah, Yahweh or whomever you choose to call the Supreme Being)."  The United Way didn't save my life, it gave me a life!  I'm now the Executive Director of Self Help of Wisconsin, Inc.  Talk about an unlikely story.... Hollywood couldn't write a better script!

Richard Harris, Executive Director

Self Help of Wisconsin, Inc

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