If you ask 33-year-old Lavelle Schaffer, he’ll tell you the growth he has made in his life is like a Hollywood story!
He found himself homeless, living on the streets of Chicago with his pregnant girlfriend 10 years ago, when “every day was like survival mode.” They spent more than a year surviving like that until one business card from one interaction with a representative of Metropolitan Family Services at a shelter kick-started his new life. He got himself mental health counseling from that card, transportation vouchers, and classes in parenting and personal finance.
By 2019, he was a part of the Chicago Police Department as an officer.
“Ever since then, here I am,” he told ABC7. “It’s 2024 and that one card kind of changed my whole life.” He is now a dad and hero to two sons who say they want to be just like him.
“They’re looking up to me, and I read their paperwork at school: ‘What do you want to …