ST. LOUIS — While many people spent the day celebrating with their father, one father spent his day trying to stop the violence in St. Louis.
Darren Seals is the founder of Sankofa Unity Center, a new community organization working to make the Walnut Park area safer.
He said although the old church building in the 6100 block of Emma Avenue has had its door closed for about three years, Sunday that all changed after he promised to re-open those doors and make it a safe haven for youth in the community.
“Every day, I was getting up doing something wrong, my whole intentions were to do something wrong,” Seals said.
He said he was once viewed as part of the problem, but now he’s part of the solution.
“I was part of the destruction, you know. I just told the pastor across the street I worked for the devil for 25 years,” Seals said.
Seals said he spent more than two decades of his life in the streets, but one day it all changed and he vowed to forever be a part of a solution instead of the problem. First, he created a community group called One Thousand T.H.U.G.S. It stood for True Help Under God's Salvation. With this group, he would go out into the community and encourage people to trade in their destructive lifestyles for a more productive one.
However, he said the final straw came a few months ago in December. He was helping a young boy change his life when the boy was killed and he was asked to identify his body.
“After that, I was like 'That's one we lost, and I was mentoring him trying to get him on the right path so we lost him.' Some of these guys that are dying at the age of 14 or 15 had no experience or thought about what life could be for them,” Seals said.
That’s why he's set out a mission to help the youth in the Walnut Park community along with the Habitat for Humanity by creating a 24-hour safe place for the youth before they too become lost to the streets.
“The kids got a place if the mothers got a problem daddy's not there, they always can come in this building. They can do their homework, get on the computer, play the play station, get something to eat,” Seals said.
And although the mission is to impact entire generations he said if they help anyone, part of their mission is complete.
"If I could talk to a thousand kids right now today if I save just one my job is done," he said.
Organizers said they believe the word is already getting out about the works they're trying to perform in the community. This comes after a 14-year-old turned in a gun, and organizers said that just the beginning of the impact they plan to make in the neighborhood. The first project inside the building is supposed to begin in August of 2018.
