It all started in church when I noticed all the single mothers and the many young boys that were without a positive male presence in their homes. One day, I walked about eight boys to the local park to sign them up for football and the park director asked me if I would be willing to coach. I had a real love for the game and had played pop-warner as a youth but could never get on the field in high school because of my grades and lack of discipline. I had no plans of coaching but when he offered me a discount for the boys, I decided to do it.

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Our first day of practice was amazing and my love for serving youth began growing in ways I could’ve never imagined. After a few weeks, I vividly remember parents coming up to me after practice saying that their son is now listening at home and in school, that they’re doing their chores, improving academically, socially, and feeling overall better about themselves. We went on to have several undefeated seasons and a few championships. To see the change in those young people over the course of our first season and the words and tears from the parents at our first banquet changed my life and from that point forward I was hooked. I had discovered my passion.

 

I would always say to my wife that if I ever got a chance to serve youth professionally, I would jump at the opportunity and then that opportunity came knocking. A friend that I had served with in youth ministry called me about a job opening at Crenshaw High School as a Site Coordinator. Because of a lack of confidence, I had no plans of walking through that door until my wife reminded me of what I said about wanting to make a career out of serving youth. I went to the interview reluctantly and already defeated. But they must have seen something in me because they called me twenty minutes later to offer me the position!

 

I started with little to no training at a campus that was infamous for gangs and violence, but I felt right at home because of the “whys” that I previously mentioned. I was able to turn the after-school program around and eventually became a program director overseeing 25 schools. Before the promotions, I had started opening my classroom at lunch for any student that wanted to hang out and not be subjected to the random violence that would happen on campus. It started off with a few students and then that number grew to over thirty students coming by on their lunch break to hangout in a safe place.

 

During that lunch hour I noticed that many of the young men were not groomed and needed haircuts, undergarments, and essentials, so I solicited a barber and began to purchase items to meet their needs out of my own pocket. This is how Fades for Grades was born. After developing our program model, I pitched it to my CEO at the time and she allowed me to be a vendor as well as an employee. After a few years of developing and seeing the positive affect it was having on program participants, I knew it was time to step into my calling fulltime and the rest is HIS-story.”

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-Rick McGregor