The Inspirational Story of Andres Todd — From Troubled Teen to Promising Young Man
It's way too easy to veer away from the right path in life.
One bad influence, one bad habit or even just one bad night can be incredibly impactful in all the wrong ways.
For Andres Todd, that one bad night came when his great-grandfather was shot and killed during a robbery, AL.com reported. Todd's great-grandfather asked him to call the police, but the teen, shaken up by what had just taken place, was unable to do so.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
From there, things started to go downhill for Todd, so much so that he became known as one of the "most challenging" students in Birmingham, AL.
This is the point where some readers may be expecting to hear about another tale of a young man who lost his way early on in life and just never found the right path again. Oftentimes, those tales end badly, with the young man losing his life before it truly got started.
But this is not one of those tales.
No, the story of Andres Todd, is one of redemption, joy, of how a community can affect the life of an individual in such profoundly positive ways, and how the Christian faith can empower people.
Not long after Todd earned a reputation of being a "challenging" student, he also drew the attention of some police officers in Birmingham, but he did so not because of any criminal activities.
Instead, the police turned their attention to Todd because they wanted to save this young man from the dangerous path he had already started to walk on.
Capt. James Jackson approached Todd and showed him that there are people in the community who genuinely care about him.
Capt. Jackson took Todd to Kids Across America camp, a Christian program focused on helping urban kids become better prepared for life through education and the teaching of values.
Todd was hesitant about going to the camp at first, and at the start, he was having a tough time adjusting to his new surroundings. It didn't take long for him to understand that he belonged, however; and soon enough, he would even open up about the awful night that changed his life.
Todd quickly took on a leadership for the duration of his stay at that camp.
What's even more wonderful about this story is that it didn't end the day camp ended.
The Birmingham police officers continued to be involved in Todd's life to make sure that he would remain on the right path and to reinforce the lessons from that camp.
For his part, Todd took all of that to heart, and just recently, he graduated from Wenonah High School and he even received the Wenonah High School Student Achievement award.