Making a Difference

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When I was 10, I looked at my ‘Poppa’ and said, things have to change today. I want to be better than this. I want to make a difference. And my Poppa looked up at the sky and said, Well, kiddo, I have something to tell you, there’s your limit. The sky’s the limit, and don’t forget it. I thought, OK, I can do this. I can make a difference in life and try to make somebody else’s days better, even if I’m having a shitty day. And then it was the drugs, so then it was back to being shitty. I didn’t think I’d ever do it, but I was 28, and I said, enough’s enough. I went back to school to get my Grade 12. I don’t know how I got it. I don’t have a clue. I told all the teachers, listen, if I don’t graduate by the time I’m 30, I’m done. Finished. The way I see it, the way I rose above the bullshit, from growing up with violence in the house, the way I said I never wanted to treat people like my family treated me, That was the 'pre' girl. Where I’m at now is in the middle. I want to become a developmental social worker to work with the developmentally challenged because they have a right to reach out and know the sky’s the limit. I’ve been judged my whole life, and I feel like people judge them. A few times at the Green Wood dinner, I’ve sat at the back table and just watched. There could be somebody that gets all nicely dressed, they could be homeless. We don’t know. They could be in hard core addiction. We don’t know. We don’t know their story. 
--Cheryl Scott
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Making a Difference is a new series of personal stories by members of the Green Wood Coalition community. By meeting a person where they are and building community through weekly Community Dinners, Green Wood makes a difference in a life. 
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You can make a difference by donating to Support Green Wood’s work in Northumberland County. Click here: Donate to Green Wood
📷: Jeannette Breward