Drafting a Dream Team

Milo hands Sheri a gallon of milk through a window.

It was the end of the night when he ap- proached us, barefoot. Hunger pushed Edward into taking the short walk from the Harvest Home, where he and his mom have been for eight months, following their departure from Kansas.

"I'm starving."

Edward attends a program held in the Erie Island school building. A suspension program--he gets in fights.

As he and his mom bounce around, Edward finds it hard to fit in, which attracts bullies. Edward fights back.

With every answer, Edward painted a morbid picture of innocence and need.

We loaded Edward up with the good variety of food that we still had--very uncharacteristic for us by the end of the night.

Both Horinger and I were left crushed, our insides torn. Anymore, it's not very often that a scene blows us away, but this one did.

HOPE'sters with Mr. Lucas, Mozart and Spanky.

Edward seemed like a great kid. He was very respectful and thankful; however, we knew he was part of a cycle. His starting line in life is far back from some of the rest of the pack. He'll always try to beat his odds, which includes bullies, which will give him the reputation of "a bad kid." Such negativity will only further set his starting line back.

And in the end, society will just say he made bad choices that left him at the bottom--it's his fault.