ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH:

“This is a picture that really inspires me because I always felt like that I had to hide in the shadows, and I feel like now that I'm not in the shadow any more; I'm not afraid. It was taken at the zoo. That's the first time that I had gone to the zoo since I was a kid. And it's the first time that I feel like I haven’t been afraid in a long time. I lived in the shadow. I'm here, my life at Off the Streets now. And this place has saved my life. It really has. There's just no words to describe how I feel about this place. You know, they were here for me when I needed them. When I had nowhere else to turn, they were here.”