From Chaos to Calling: The Incredible Journey of Camaron Hooks

Redding is a beautiful place. We have national parks in three different directions, two world-class lakes. This is a sportsman's paradise, but it's also full of wonderful people. We have business leaders, community leaders, faith-based leaders, all of them working towards a singular goal, and that's to make this a great place to live. I wanted to showcase these people, give their perception of the place that they call home. This is All Redding.

Camaron Hooks, welcome to the All Redding Podcast. It's my pleasure to get to chat to you today. All guests on the All Redding Podcast get one of our tumblers, but this one's got something in it that's just for you. Really? Yeah, yeah. It's not ice. It sounds like ice, but it's not ice.

That sounds nine millimeter-ish.

I'm just saying you might want to wash it before you put water in it. I don't think lead is good to drink.

No, it's not. That's awesome. Yeah, you put that on ice, it should be fine.

There you go. No, seriously, thanks for doing this.

Oh, thank you. That's amazing. Thank you, guys.

So for our audience who doesn't know you, like I have the pleasure of knowing you, you are a law enforcement officer, a youth sports coach, a family man, and one of my closest friends. But interestingly, the reason that I asked you to be a guest here on the All Redding Podcast is you have a life story that I know will be an encouragement to those in our community. And so I wanted to talk to you today about you and kind of from the beginning to what brought us here today. So that's the goal is to hear your story and some of the things that you learned along the way that you might be able to share toward the end of our time together with youth in our community or the parents of those youth in our community. So then let's get into it. I guess, where were you born? We'll start at the very beginning.

Well, like you said, my name is Camaron Hooks. I'm a dad. I got three beautiful kids and a beautiful wife. Yeah, I was born actually in Berkeley, California to two parents. And then I had an older brother. My family consisted of I have two sisters and two brothers. So I was the middle dude, older brother, little brother. Yeah, when I was super young, we lived in, I don't ever think we lived in Berkeley. We lived in, from my first memories, we lived in Fremont. And I don't know if you know where Fremont is. It's like on the south end of the Bay. Went to school in Fremont till about, I want to say like third grade. I remember things by grade and not the year specifically because all of the events in my life all lined up with school. And that's the only way I could categorize it. So if I say like, yeah, eighth grade year, I probably don't know what year it is and I'll have to think about it. But so third grade, we leave Fremont and we moved to Elk Grove. My dad was a, he actually started off here in Redding. I think my dad was actually born in Redding and his family lived all around here. So my dad moved down to the, just to give you a little side note, my dad lived down in Oakland, graduated from high school in Oakland, and then met my mom in the Bay area. She's from Redwood city. And they met, fell in love. After my dad went to prison at a young age, they met afterwards and he got a job as a vacuum pump technician, which was a really like booming field. He was making good money in the nineties too, like 20 bucks an hour in the nineties, which was like decently good money, but he always had to commute to Santa Clara. So wherever we lived, he always commuted to Santa Clara. So when we moved from Fremont to Elk Grove, it was a decent commute for him. So he would just go down and stay with my great uncle Jimmy in Oakland while we stayed at the house in Elk Grove. And I did fourth grade there. My parents ended up separating and it was like this big blowout fight. And my dad was like, he told me, he's like, Hey, we're going to keep this a secret. We're leaving. Like, we're going to pack the house, we're going to leave, turn in all your school books, we're out of here. And as a kid, I think I was third grade. So that'd be eight, trying to like keep a secret like that. But it's also like, I didn't understand the gravity of like, we're leaving, like your mom's not coming with us. So like years later that would end up like, I don't even want to say causing trauma, but like, once I realized what was happening, like that kind of sucks, you know? So my dad comes back with a U-Haul, gets us all, drives away, calls my mom and he's like, Hey, I took the boys, you're not getting them back, we're leaving. And we talked on the phone and she's in tears. And that was the night we moved down to Oakland. I started school down there for fourth grade, I believe fifth grade down in Fremont. We lived over off of Central Avenue and I went to some elementary school down there.

Sounds like that's your third school in about four or five school years total.

So I went to Grimmer, then I went to, it was almost like a private school. We wore uniforms. I think it was a private school in Elk Grove. And then, yeah, my third school within four years of schooling. Started school in Fremont and then I'd go back and forth. My mom lived in Citrus Heights, but we still lived there. And then we moved from Fremont to Stockton, I think either later that year or fifth grade year, I believe it was fifth grade. Lived in Stockton for a little bit. Things got weird. My dad, I don't know, him and my mom reconnected or rekindled or whatever. And she ended up moving back with us in Stockton, but they weren't together, which was odd for us, but mom's back.

They were more like roommates?

Yeah, kind of like roommates. Because my dad had his own room, but they would share the room sometimes. It was this weird dynamic to where he's like, we're not together, but then we are together. But then it was a bunch of awfulness. My older brother started getting into trouble.

How much older is he?

He is two years older than me.

When your dad left, you said with the boys, what happened to your sisters?

So my sisters are both... I never call them that because I don't believe in calling them half sisters, but I have a sister on my mom's side and a sister on my dad's side. They never lived with us full time. They would come and live with us sparingly, but then go back to their other parent. My sister Frances, I think she was living in Chester. And then my sister Ariana was living in Redwood City with her mom. So my dad's relationship that he had had that child and then my mom had had a previous daughter. So yeah, my mom had got pregnant at a young age, put her up for adoption, and then we met her again later in life when we actually moved to Redding. We had moved here to Redding from Stockton. So my grandmother had a stroke and she had a history of cocaine use. And so my dad, just so you know, my dad was everybody's like hero. My dad was a hero in our family. And I'll explain a little bit about my dad throughout this, but my dad was the dude who everyone called. And when they were like, hey, we need help with this. My dad fixed shit. My dad handled stuff. You know, the truck broke down. My dad could figure it out. We're getting evicted. My dad would go talk to the people and get the rent, extend it. Don't even know how he did all that. And so my dad was the hero. So when my grandma had had a stroke, my dad's mother, they called him, you got to get up here, we need help. And so my dad, who was working down there, sacrificed his entire job just to make sure his mom could be taken care of. He's like, all right, we'll come up there, we'll take care of her, we'll figure it out. So we came up here and we moved in over on Lake Boulevard. My grandmother lived in an apartment with my cousin. And so we moved into an apartment and I think we had a two bedroom apartment. We all shared a room, my brothers and I. My sisters would come visit every now and then. And yeah, we shared a room. And then my dad commuted to and from Santa Clara for work still. So he'd work all week. He'd work Monday through Friday or whatever his shift was, and then he'd come stay. Then he's like, all right, I got to go back down to Oakland, stay down there all week, come back up for the weekend, see us, love on us, and then would head back down. And when he was recovering, we moved down there to the Bay while he healed. They did a total hip replacement on my father before he was 40. He had degenerative like bone disease, his cartilage. And so I think he'd gotten into an accident on a motorcycle when he was in high school. And this is just the history. I don't know all of the ins and outs. And so they did a hip replacement on him when he was 39. And they're like, hey, he needs to recover. And I don't even remember, I don't know if I went to school that year or what happened. All I know is like, we ended up moving back into the Bay. So he could recover at my great uncle's house. And then we'd take care of him. Like I would help him get up to go to the restroom and then take him back and lay him back down. Like, oh man. And so I think that was when things had gotten hard and things got tough. Because my dad, as I know now, like my dad had a crazy upbringing, which is where I get a lot of my dad from my, you know, some of my trauma and stuff like that is my dad had been through some crazy traumatic stuff, which I don't think I want to delve into.

Fair.

His dad. But just know that my dad had overcome a lot. And in that overcoming, he had used substances to kind of like push through. And so when he finally hit that rock bottom, he's like, I'm done. And he pushed forward and decided to go back to school, get his GED, became a vacuum pump technician, and he made good money. And so that, I believe has led to the reason why I am able to push through a lot of the things that I have because I see my father who pushed through a lot of the things that he had. So anyway, my dad was recovering. He did his first hip replacement and I think it was five years later, he did the second one and was recovering from that. And the pain for him was super crazy. And so he was on a lot of pain medication. And back in those days, they just gave you Norco and Vicodin. And they gave you like the bottles, not the, hey, here's a seven day supply. It was, here's 100 pills.

Right. They didn't control them like they do nowadays.

So I believe, and I didn't know the inner workings of all of this, I just see like my dad is doped up and then my dad's nodding off a lot and I'm like, oh, he's just tired. You know, he's healing. So that was that. And then we came back to Redding and my dad started like having a hard time holding down jobs and like my dad was just things had gotten tough. And so I believe he started having an opioid addiction and I didn't know this. In hindsight, I know this, but at the time I didn't know. And so I'm just thinking like, man, my dad's just tripping. And things started getting like a little bit tough. We were struggling for rent. And where I'm like, he was making 20 bucks an hour. Like how are you struggling with this rent check? But I didn't know. And then also at the same time, my brother started hanging out with kids who were like, I believe Riverside and some South Central LA families had moved up here, like some gangbangers and stuff. And my brother had started hanging out with them. And he ended up going to juvy. And so he did a little bit of time at juvy. And I remember him doing time and like, man, this is kind of like hard to navigate. My father's struggling with addiction. My brother's like in and out of jail, like juvy. And the cops are at my house a lot. And some of the things that, again, it's in hindsight, I didn't know this, but like some of the things that we lived through that I can tell now, like, oh, that was wild. Like I was in a house when someone threw rocks through our window. I was in the car with my dad driving back to Oakland, and the brakes went out, and he's like, hold on. And we're going down the freeway, and I think a Honda Civic in front of us stopped because they saw my dad cutting it, because my dad was like signaling, like he was in trouble. So they stopped, and we slammed into them, but like it slowed us down. And then we slammed into them, kept going. And then we ended up turning off on like Davis and getting stopped by a curb, but like, whoa. And that was like traumatic for me as a kid. And in hindsight, I was like, well, why did the brakes go out?

Some scary things going on that you didn't fully comprehend as a kid.

I didn't comprehend. I just thought, man, that was a close one, you know? And then I remember being called to the front office at Enterprise and they're like, hey, your brother did something. Can you just like tell us so we can help him? And I'm like, what are you guys talking about? And looking back, I'm like, oh, they thought I was a participant in that. I had no idea. And so my brother and some of the kids that he was with, they robbed somebody up there off of Churn Creek, I believe. And so my brother got charged with robbery. I think he got charged with assault and some other things. And so then my brother went away for a little bit. He had to go do like at least a year, which for a kid is like a long time, you know? So my brother had to go do some time. And I'm living in this neighborhood where like there's like families. And there was a lot of single parent households, a lot of kids at home by themselves because their parent had to work. And I'd say probably 60% of the kids that I lived around on Lake Boulevard were all from, we were all transplants from somewhere else. So like I came here from the Bay and maybe moved to Redding from Fresno or, and then a lot of them were like LA based. And so a lot of these kids were like navigating the world that they had just come from. So when you come from South Central or you come from Riverside or you come from Stockton or Vallejo or Fremont or Oakland, you come from those areas where you got to look a certain way, you got to act a certain way. And you just uproot them and move them to Redding. They're still trying to do that, but they're in a place that isn't that. But they're trying to keep it like that because that's their identity. That's all they know. So Redding was kind of being overtaken by a lot of kids who were just acting hood because that's all they knew. So I'm like, I got to be hood because everyone's hood. And I wasn't even hood. My parents had both worked. And like my dad, although he was a street dude and he had done time in prison, I don't want to like downplay my dad's, what my dad had been through, but I was a kid who lived in the suburbs. So like, yeah, my dad was a street kid. And so he had that upbringing and that was who he was. And I think my dad wanted me to know where he came from. So my dad would call people cuz and bro and he'd talk that way. And he'd tell me stories about the stuff that he did and the stuff he had been through. And my dad had a gold grill. And so all of these things were just like, yeah, like I'm hood. And I say it jokingly now, but like I wasn't. I was a kid who grew up in the suburbs. Like I did. And like I said, I, we lived in, I don't want to like say anything disparaging about like East Oakland or anything, but like we lived in the burbs. We lived on Central Avenue. And Central Avenue was a house with a yard. Like it wasn't an apartment or it wasn't, we had a house. Like I'd never lived in the hood, but the way my dad talked and the way that like I was trying to hold on to that as an identity was who I was starting to form myself and become as a kid. And like, I really thought, as I'm telling you now, I really believed I was hood. I had been hood. My dad's hood. Like I am a hood kid. And like we struggled. Like we were in poverty. So I'm like, oh, poverty is synonymous with hood. So I must be hood. But looking back, I'm like, I was not. I was just a kid who was poor. You can be poor and not be hood. So I'm living on Lake Boulevard and I'm trying to like understand, like where do I fit in? Like who am I, Cameron? Because I'm biracial. My mom is white and my father's black. And Redding doesn't have a huge mix of those at the time. Now it's a lot different, but back then it was like, there's a handful of you. So like I would go to school and I have three or four biracial kids or black kids. And then the rest is just white kids. And they're like white kids, white kids, you know, like, so I'm trying to just fit in with them. But then there was that part of me that, and I'd be telling these people, like, yeah, I got some black in me. So you can't say the N word, but I can. And I remember saying that stuff and now I'm like, ugh.

You're trying to find yourself.

I was trying to find myself, but I didn't want to let go of that identity. So I'm like, I'm clutching to this part of me that if I let go of it, I'm just like them. Like I become them. And I didn't want to be them. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but I was like, I'm not them. They're not me. Like I want to be me, but who's me? Like what do I do? Like if I let go of that, like am I anything? And I would think that even to myself at a young age. And so I'm trying to create this identity and that pressure of being hood led me to buy those pants that are size 42 when my waist size is like 30. And so I had to wear a belt and I'm wearing my pants sagging and like, and my dad gave me the gold teeth and I say gave me, he's like, Hey, cause my brother had done time and then my brother came back home and he had a gold C on his front tooth and he had a gold grill. And so he had gotten like the rest of them because he's a Crip at this point. And I'm like, and he said, Hey, you should come down and get your name done. And so I was like, dad, will you do it? And he's like, yeah. So we went down and got the letters of my name, like each letter on each tooth all in gold. And I got the grill and, but now I regret it because it cost me so much money later to fix my teeth.

Yeah. I've seen the after photos. They did a great job, by the way.

Thank you. My dentist did amazing. And it was not cheap. But when I have my teeth done, I had like, my teeth were literally rotted out because they attached the gold to your tooth and they drill into your tooth and they screw it in. So like, so then when they took them out, my front eight teeth were like all rotted out. And so they had to like crown them all and they did like all of this stuff. So I had eight crowns done and they all match my teeth. And I'm like, dude, this is, thank God. Like I thought I was going to look awful because I had had them for so long. I think I did at 14 or 15. I got them done. And then I had them out at 20 maybe or 19. So I've rocked the gold grills for a while. And I'd put cornrows in my hair at times when I wasn't being like conforming to school. Cause our school didn't really like it. But I also realized after a while, I'm like, I don't like that look on me. Like I don't like that. Like that's not me. Like, yes, I can pull it off, but that's not me. And I'd have pants sagging. I remember going to prom with my pants hanging off my butt. And that's just what I thought, like for me. And it's funny now in hindsight, but it's like, people saw me and they're like, that's not you, bro. Like, I don't know what you're doing. And especially like my best friend, Devin, like he's from Oakland. He grew up in Concord. We met when I lived in Fremont and then we kept in contact. But his parents were working parents, both went to work. They had good jobs. And he'd be like, yo, bro, like, come on, dude, we're not like that. And I'd be like, speak for yourself. And he's like, all right, fine. Like we're not like that. And I'm like, and then I look at him and he's like, pulling his pants up. Like his pants are on his butt. And I'm like, I don't even get it, bro. And he's like, yeah, you're right. You're right. But it's like, it's that identity crisis of where you're like, this is who I'm supposed to be because this is what I feel comfortable with. But I knew he was right.

Let me ask you this. When you were younger, did you ever feel like you weren't welcomed places or invited to things or to people's homes? Or because you had the grills, you had the pants, you showed up to things, did you ever feel unwelcome?

I wouldn't say unwelcome, but I would say that there was a part of me that felt like I was being looked at like, Oh, he's like, he's, I use the term judged, but it's not really that like, I don't even know if they were judging me. I just felt like people were looking at me like, what is that? Like he doesn't look like, like, I think people were confused because I'm, I have really white skin. So my skin is light and I have these gold teeth. And so people are looking at me like, what's going on with him? What like wigger, you know, like that was a term used on me a lot because I was, well, he's trying to be black, but he's white. I'm like, I'm black. I'm white. But you're looking at me like that because I'm light skinned. But if I was dark, would you say the same thing? So I think, but I wouldn't say unwelcome and this is because of the people that I had to hang around, like the people in my circle welcomed me. But I think if my circle was different, I would have felt more in the judged category. But the people that were around me were like, yeah, they were, they just saw me. And I, and that's probably why I hung out with them.

Well, let's transition now to Shasta High School and talk about where that's located in your storyline. You're now in town, you're at the apartment on Lake. Talk to me about the start of high school and what was going on in your life around then.

So I started playing sports, you know, when I was like eight or nine, I started playing baseball. And so, Devin, the kid that I mentioned earlier, his dad was a baseball coach. And so they taught me how to play baseball, got me into baseball. And then I just like fell in love with it. And I played baseball through like up until we moved out here. I couldn't find a team to play on because my dad wasn't going to pay. Like we didn't have the money to play for like a select team or pay for stuff like that. So I just played at school during the season. But when I got to high school, I'm like, I'm going to play baseball. I really got into baseball. And so I'm looking at like, okay, I want to go to this high school because they have a good baseball program. And I want to go to Foothill because I liked the way it was like built and like the way it's like a horseshoe. So I picked Foothill. And my dad's like, you're going to Shasta. I'm like, but I don't want to go to Shasta. He's like, you're going to Shasta because all your friends are going to Shasta. And I'm like, no, I want to go to Foothill. He's like, you're going to Shasta because your brother's going to be there. My brother had just gotten out of juvy. And he said, your brother's going to be there and he can keep an eye out on you. And I'm like, I'm good. Like I don't need that. And I, like, I did not want to go to Shasta. I did not want to. I know kids who wanted to go there, but I did not. And I ended up going and I went and it turned out to be like one of the greatest decisions that my father ever made for me because if I went to Foothill, there's a high likelihood that I would not have made it because the coaches there at Shasta, I believe saved my life. They legitimately saved my life. So I'm at Shasta and I'm playing baseball. I'm doing football, play baseball. And when I say play football, I mean like I was, I played. I was not a starter, but I played junior varsity and then like just enough to get on varsity. And I'd do it for the workouts because the workouts were insane. And also I really loved smashing kids. Like I really just like enjoyed football. It was a good time. So I played football and baseball. And then in the summertime, me and my boys, we played ghetto ball. And ghetto ball was this game. And I really need somebody to like trademark it for me, because I think it should be trademarked, but it was like, we played baseball without a baseball diamond. So it'd be like six on six baseball without a diamond. So we'd like throw a tennis ball and I got a bat. My dad bought me like this metal bat and we called it like the magic bat. And it was like aluminum, but it was probably like the first generation like 1980s. And when you hit a ball off of it, it would go like this far.

So let me just ask a couple of questions about that just to make sure the audience fully comprehends what's going on. So you're in the apartments?

Yes.

This isn't like in the wilderness where you got unlimited fields. This is like buildings.

Apartments all around you. And there was a big courtyard and you could hit the ball. We'd hit the ball so far that we'd break windshields.

And that was part of your life.

Yes. And so we played like baseball and we'd like make these rules on the fly. Like you had to hit the ball past this tree. And if you did, it's like one out, two outs, three outs. You can only get so many runs per inning. And we just created this game. And at one point, I think there was like 18 to 24 people who would play and we'd have a little tournament. And it was like March Madness of ghetto ball. We'd have four teams and we'd play and the winner of it, like you got money. Like we would all put in like five bucks or 10 bucks, whatever we had. And it was literally like the best thing in my life because it taught me how to play the game. And, but it also taught me how to like, like deal with conflict and how to interact with kids. And I learned that like there was people that were terrible to hang out with. And I learned that like there were people who were awesome to hang out with. And so I think that that game alone helped me realize like who my circle should be and who should not be in my circle. It taught me not only to play the game, but how to interact with other people in a way that helped me maneuver through high school, because I saw like, oh man, that dude is annoying and he's around a lot of bad stuff. And like, so I would just like stray from that individual. And then that individual, I'm like, oh, I like hanging with him, I'm going to chill with him. And so I really focused on, I'm going to hang out with people I like. And I'm not going to hang out with people I don't like, which seems so elementary, but when you're poor and you live around poor people, a lot of times you hang out with people you don't like, or you hang out with people just because they're nearby and they're doing the same thing you're doing and you guys are all just hanging out. And that's what a lot of people don't realize. It's like, I'm going to hang out with kids that I'm around and they're nearby. So they may not all be the best kids, but they're the ones I live around. And so like I'm going to go chill with them. But I had this thought like that dude's annoying. I don't want to be around him. And I learned that through ghetto ball, which is fascinating to me. So ghetto ball helped me like make better decisions on who I chill with.

Leadership skills while you're just playing ghetto ball. You're learning conflict resolution. You're learning to manage resources. You're learning how to interact.

Yes.

And this is all out of apartments on Lake Boulevard where otherwise you'd say, well, geez, what am I going to do tonight? And these kids are making up their own game.

We made our own game because we were like, we didn't want to go down and play video games at my house. And for whatever reason, we played video games, but that was like at the end of the night when we were all tired and sweaty from ghetto ball. Then we go play video games. And so that was like from probably when I was 13 to like 17. And when I say 17, so after my sophomore year, I think I'd turned 17. My mom had met a dude on eHarmony and they had been chatting for a while and he was from Texas and she said, I'm going to move down there. And I'm like, wait, what? She's like, I'm going to move. She's like, your dad, my relationship with your dad. She's like, my life here is not what I thought it was going to be. And I'm going to go try to move on. And so she said, I'm going to move to Texas. And she left for Texas. And then my father was struggling to pay rent. I think he was really heavy into his addiction at this time. And he also at this time was also like gambling. And I didn't know this, I'm learning all of this in hindsight. But I remember things just had like gotten not good. It got bad. It was just tough financially. I think my dad had moved in with his mom, so moved in with my grandma in the little, like we moved into, he moved into a garage because my grandma was there. My aunt and her family had moved into the house. So my grandma moved into a converted garage with all of her like medical stuff and whatnot. And then like, I believe my aunt moved into the house and she had like 10 kids. And so she moved into the house with her kids. There's no room for me. And so I'm being kicked out of like rooms in my own house. Like, Hey, we're going to move in here and you need to get out. And they ended up having to rent out a room to get some extra money. But the only room that was extra was the room underneath the house, which was kind of like a studio. It wasn't, it's more like a room with like two windows and it's in the garage. And so they, and I paid rent. And I had to pay rent and I didn't make any money. I was 15, 16 years old. So I'm paying $200 a month to live in my family's house, which is the house that we had been paying rent for, but we couldn't pay rent for. So I'm now paying rent and I'd make like minimum wage. My first job, I was making six bucks an hour. And then like ended up working at Target, making like seven or eight bucks an hour. Like I was making not enough to like live anywhere really. But I started paying that rent and like I had to take care of myself down there. And then my little cousins would break into my room and steal stuff. I'm a 16 year old kid and I have a deadbolt on my door that I installed. And I bought the drill from Costco because we had the membership. I installed the deadbolt and then took the drill back. So I got like, and I didn't lie about it. I returned it. I was like, Hey, I got the, I didn't need this. And they're like, all right. And I'm like, cool. And I got the deadbolt and I had to pay for that, but like I installed it on my own and like all this stuff. And so I'm living down there and that wasn't working out. And so my dad ended up being like, I'm having a hard time with money and I need to charge you more or I need you to move to Oakland with me. And I'm like, I don't want to move to Oakland. I want to stay at Shasta. I'm doing really well at Shasta. I didn't have great grades. I was a terrible student. And that was also a whole nother like thing, but like I was, I really had invested a lot into my school and I wanted to stay at my school. I didn't want to leave. And so my dad's like, well, you can move out then. And I'm like, wait, what? And he's like, you can move out. And I'm like, okay. And so he's like, well, do you want me to take you down to Oakland so we can talk about it? And I'm like, no. And so I made arrangements with Devin and I said, Hey bro, I need a place to crash. And he's like, all right, I'll see what we can do. And he talked to his family. And there was a house that they owned that they, it was vacant, but they were going to move into it because his grandparents owned it. And he's like, Hey, we can rent it to you guys. And I'm like, you guys? He's like, yeah, cause you're going to need help with rent, dude. And so he's like, I'll move in. And I'm like, really? And he's like, yeah, I'll move in with you. Let me talk to my parents. And so he's like, yeah, we can rent it to you. His family owned the house. So he's like, I'll rent you this house. He's like, we'll move in. And then he said, but you guys have to pay rent. And so we set up a whole like rent thing. We paid rent. Like I think rent was like 800 bucks a month or something, maybe 700, which now I'm like, wow. And it was me and my friend Devin. And I'm like 16 years old and I'm working. And so I'm working at Target and I go to school every day at Shasta. And I'm working at Target and I'm living in a house. And when I say living in a house, like there's food, but it's like peanut butter and jelly, which I keep the peanut butter and jelly in the back of my blazer. If you, anybody who went to Shasta at the time knows I had a black Blazer. That Blazer had like Velcro patches on the back because they would fall off. Anyway, I kept bread and peanut butter and jelly in the back of that Blazer. And I don't even know if it was legal because I literally had groceries in the back of my car. Like it was a milk crate filled with like peanut butter and jelly and bread and like my, I think I had noodles back there, like top ramen, like just in case. But I didn't really eat the top ramen because I just ate peanut butter and jelly. And then at school, I would buy two cookies for a dollar every day. Like that was my thing. I'd get two cookies for a dollar. And then at lunch when I'd get there, the lunch ladies would like let me come in early. So I'd get to class, go to PE and they'd let me go eat my lunch before I had to go to PE. And then I'd go back to PE, go to class and I'd get to go to the lunchroom early.

So, but there's two important people there. Number one, your friend Devin and his family, you haven't gone into how you guys met yet, by the way. And then number two, the lunch lady. And so like these are small people in the background.

Huge, huge impacts.

But major impacts on your life. Like your life trajectory is different had those people not intervened.

A hundred percent. Oh man. Now I'm like crying. Yeah. There are so many people that I'm going to explain and you're like, this is not these little bitty moments, they're huge. I cried, I was crying this morning actually, because like I was thinking about lunch ladies and I think about, and I know I'm skipping around, but like there are people who have made an impact on my life. Like I think about like Devin who said, Hey man, come live in my house. I think about this lady at Sojo, which we'll talk about later. I think about those lunch ladies who literally allowed me to go eat lunch and they knew what was going on with me. And they were like, this kid has, like he's hungry and we know he's hungry. And so we're going to just let him go in there early and get him fed. And they did that. And I think about like my English teacher at Shasta, Mrs. Molly Huon, I think about some of my coaches, Steve McClain, coach McClain. I think about Leon. I think about all of these coaches and these people who made an impact on my life that changed like the trajectory of my life to be honest. And they didn't have to, like they just did it because they saw me, they saw me. And I think about that and I'm like, it's almost overwhelming.

Well, let's walk through some of those people. And I've had the pleasure of knowing some of the people you've mentioned. We've also had Stacey McClain as a guest on this podcast and she and Steve would be the first to tell you, they just coach kids. And that's just what they do. And they're in a different season of life now than when you were in school. But I think a lot of audience, our audience might have experienced Steve as a coach or Stacey as a teacher. Let's start with Mrs. Molly Huon, your English teacher. Talk to me about what she did that changed things for you.

Molly was my English teacher and just so you know, I literally when I met you, I was like, is this my brother? So the same thing with when I met Mrs. Huon, Molly Huon, I was like, is this my mom? She reminded me of my mother a lot, a lot. And my relationship with my mother is a different one, but like she reminded me of my mother. And so I knew that she had a heart and I knew that, and she cared about us kids. And I was failing, like I had mentioned, I was not doing well in school. I was, and I don't know why, but it was probably because I was just so overwhelmed with life that doing school work was like the last thing on my mind. Like I could careless. What mattered to me was like I got to go to practice and I got to do whatever I got to do to get to practice, to get food, to like just have money to put gas, so I got to get money to put gas. Like I was living like survival. And so school work was not on the forefront. And so Mrs. Huon said, Hey, you need to pick it up and whatever. And she was like very like, you know, she was firm with me and I knew that she cared about me. And I knew that she believed in me. And so I started like, okay, I'm going to turn this in and I'm going to turn this in. And I did, but I didn't do a very good job. And so she's like, you need to step it up. And I was like, all right. And then I just kind of stopped because life had just, I don't even know what happened. I just, I suck at school. And I kind of like, I couldn't do it. I couldn't complete anything. Like that was my thing. Like I could not complete anything. And so senior year, my dad was like, you need to, I needed to graduate and my dad's like, you need to come back down to Oakland. And I'm like, I'm not coming back down to Oakland. I want to graduate from Shasta. And I had already been living in the house, which we called the bachelor pad. That's what we call the house me and my roommate lived in. And so I'm living in the bachelor pad, graduating from Shasta. And I'm like, I don't want to leave. I want to be here. And he's like, you need to like be down here. I think I need you to like just move back. And so I was like, okay. And so I moved back down there for like a little bit. And actually I went back down there and I started school down there in Oakland, I believe. And then I did the first semester of school down there in Oakland. It wasn't the first semester. It was the first part. It was like before Christmas break. And I said to Mrs. Molly Huon, I said, Hey, I've got to leave. I got to go back down to Oakland. And so when I left, she sent me emails constantly. And she said, Hey, I need you to turn this in. Hey, I need you to turn this in. What are you doing? How's your brother? Are you guys hanging out? How are things going with you? Like, she was checking on me. And so I was like, okay. And so then like the whole thing with my brother, he was living down there and we ended up hanging out. And this is the part where I'm going to say, like my dad struggled.

At that point at this time period, you're in Oakland now?

Yes. And I'm hanging out with my brother. Me and my little brother would hang out at my older brother's house and my dad at this time was unemployed. So this is around like Thanksgiving. And he didn't have a job. He was gambling with any little bit of money he had. And we had nothing for Thanksgiving. And at that time, I can specifically remember, my little brother came with me cause my dad would drop my little brother off to watch him. And I'd take him to school with me. And I remember this teacher and I wish I knew her name, but she was a sweet older white lady who said, Hey, I noticed that you guys and, and I, I don't even know if she said this, but I was like, I need help. And she, like, she saw me and she said, Hey, the Lord's telling me to give you this. And she handed me a gift card, a Safeway gift card. And it was like, I think it was like a hundred bucks. I don't even know. Like I don't remember, but it was a lot. And this is like back in 2004, five, six. I don't remember, but somewhere around there. And so it was a decent amount of money. It may have been 50 bucks. It may have been a hundred bucks. And I, that gift card, I used it to buy my family Thanksgiving food. My dad, I bought the Thanksgiving food for my father, my brother, our brother, and me. And then my brother's wife. And she was pregnant at the time. And so like I bought all of this food and I was able to like provide it for my family. And so I think that's when I told Mrs. Huon, I said, Hey, like I'm struggling and I need to come back. And she was like, you need to come back. Like you need to, you need to be here. And so we made arrangements with Devin and everything. And we got back and I came back and I started school there again. And it was like January. And so I came back and I was a couple months away from graduating. And I, she's like, you can do it. And I was like, I hope so. And so we worked on it together. And in January, going into it, she told me specifically, she said, Cameron, I know your family struggled. I know it's hard. She said, I'm not going to give up on you. And I said, all right. And I did just enough to graduate. And when I say just enough, I did enough. And then so coming to the end, she had like all of her students write a reflection paper on like the book that we had read or whatever, just like how do you feel like you just reflect on the year. And when I turned it in, she said, I can't give you a passing grade for this. This is awful. Like I don't even, I can't even give you a D for this paper. And I was like, sorry. And she said, and I think a lot of teachers would have just like, Hey, you just didn't do the work, but she's like, I know you can do better. I've read some of your stuff. You can do better. I think you just threw this together last minute. And I'm like, maybe. And I did. I did throw it together last minute. Like I was literally like struggling to get that paper done. And so she handed it back to me with like a ton of red markings on it. And she's like, I need you to fix this. And if you do, I'll give you a C. And if you can get this to like a C level of work, I'll give you a C. And I turned it back in and she gave me a C. And I graduated from high school. And I believe she, she sent me a letter. And I have that letter still saved. And she said, you can do it. You are, I don't remember what she said, but it was like, don't give up. You're so close to graduating. And I read that letter after I had graduated. And I was like, man. And she had given me books like throughout the year. She was like, Hey, here read this. And the one that I can remember, I believe it was a Nicholas Sparks book, A Walk to Remember. And I read it and I was like, man, this is, that's cool. Cause it's a book I can read. And I read a lot of it. And so then I got to read it for class, which was cool. And she just, she literally cared about me and I needed someone to care about me. And I think that that made me realize like, okay, I can do this. Like I, I have someone who believes in me. And so I, I know I could be crying. I'm trying not to, but it was just like a huge thing. And then some of my coaches said the same thing. Like I had Steve McClain, who was just, he was like our pitching coach at the time. And this is after Leon had left. So Leon was my baseball coach and he ended up leaving to go to Yreka. And then like he quit. And so then we were like, like we had no coach. And Molly Huon's husband, Josh Huon, who also taught at Shasta, he's he ended up becoming the coach, or he took over as coach. And so he became our coach. And then Steve came in to help coach the pitchers because a couple of the pitchers that were on our team, their dads were also like involved in the baseball program, like coaching and stuff. So they brought him in and then Steve was just, and then Stacey. So like Stacey was at Shasta. She was at Shasta teaching and she was there coaching volleyball or cheerleading or something. And I just saw her like in passing and she would just like always acknowledge me. Like she would like put her hand on me and be like, Hey, how are you doing? Or like, Hey, that was a great game. Like she would like always tell me like some like words of encouragement. And I didn't even realize like, like now I'm looking back like I didn't, like I just knew like, Hey, that's Mrs. McClain. That's coach McClain's wife. And like, dude, I love it. And I loved like, I just, I don't know. She just reminded me of like a mom who was just like looking out for you, you know? And so I always would love to see her. And she also taught English I believe at Shasta. So she would always like, Hey, how you guys doing? And like all of my friends loved her. And so then Steve was just like constantly like on you. And I mean on you in a good way, but he was like, dude, you got to do the work. You, I know you can do it. You're a good player. Like here, like let's work on this. And so I really appreciated that. And like Steve and Stacey kind of like held me accountable, but not in like an overbearing like coach McClain kind of way, but like a, they did it in a different way where it was like, I, and it was just, they were there. And I think that's what I needed. I just needed the people who were just like physically there and like were like, Hey, I'm here. And I think that made the difference. So like I really appreciate those two. I really appreciate Miss Huon and Josh. I appreciate Leon because Leon when I was a junior I think, maybe sophomore year and I was, it was like I said, I was like floundering. I was in school, but I was floundering and he pulled me over and he had told me, he said, hey, you need to get your stuff together. And I was like, okay. And I don't even think he knew how hard I was floundering. I don't think anybody really knew. Like they knew I didn't have like really good grades and stuff. And I don't think they knew like the stuff I was like really going through. But he told me like, hey, you can't play unless you're passing all of your classes. You know, you got to get this together. And so I did. And I like turned in every single paper because I was like, I don't want to miss a game. And so I made sure that I was good to go. And so like I really needed people to hold me accountable for the things that I was doing. And like the coaches at Shasta, they did that. And so I know I'm like all over the place, but like I'm, I can't say enough about the impact that those people had. Because without them, man, I would have ended up in prison. I'd be in prison. I really do believe that I, if I'd stayed in Oakland, I would have gone to prison. I'm grateful I'm not though.

You were 16 or 17 and you said in hindsight you wished someone would have turned your dad in.

Yeah. I think if someone would have called child protective services or like would have done like an assessment of like, hey, what's going on, maybe my father could have gotten help or maybe it would have like, maybe things would have been different. I'm not saying that I would have wanted to go live in like a group home or like go to foster care, but I'm saying maybe if they would have been more aware of what was going on and like the things that were happening, like maybe my dad could have gotten help earlier. I do know that my dad did check himself into rehab after this at some point. Like when I was away, my dad checked into rehab and got himself some help. And I know my dad has struggled over the years, but like right now my dad is doing really well. So I do want people to know like my dad, like he's doing well now and he's my dad still. I love my father and I, and I have a relationship with him still. And it's, I've learned to forgive a lot of the things that have happened to me because like my dad struggled, like my dad had a hard life. And I wanted to be clear about that, that my dad, I don't hold any animosity towards my father at all. And I really, I've forgiven. I've like, I've had to forgive him because I understand now as a father, like the things that like, I know what was probably going on with my dad and I understand that addiction is hard and I, and I forgive him and I love him very much.

Well, in saying that out loud, you probably just gave a gift to someone who's a kid right now who's facing some of the same struggles you faced. And I think that's important.

Yeah. And to the parents who are struggling, like I, I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to tell you that like, you, you can overcome what you're going through. You can, you can do it. Like if my dad can do it, I believe that you can do it. Like my dad did it. Like you can do it.

So now let's talk, we're going to move from high school to, we talked about Molly, Steve, Stacey, Leon, Devin. Now, now let's talk about after graduation. What, what happened to you after you walk that stage? Where are you physically? Where do you end up?

So I walk the stage and my father came to my graduation. My mother came back from Texas to see me graduate. And I have no pictures with my parents. Like I, I love my, both my parents, but like I have zero pictures with my parents. I have a couple with my dad, but not at graduation. And I have like no pictures with my mom. And my mom had seen me walk and then left. My dad watched me walk and then he left. And I was there by myself. And I was with my friends and that was cool. And so like, I hung out with my friends all night and we went home and that was it. And so I think that was like in like June. And so I'd already been working at Target for a little bit. And so I continued working at Target, working a lot more hours. And I was trying to pay rent. And I'm, I still have my friend Devin living with me and he's helping me. He was working for, I think he was delivering pizza. And he was helping me pay rent. And so we just lived there and we hung out and we got into some mischief. We'd have like parties at our house and, you know, we'd have girls over and we'd hang out. And it was very like a bachelor pad. And so we did that for like, man, I believe I did that for like maybe six months after I had graduated or like just the rest of the summer into the fall. And then I believe a friend of mine, or not a friend of mine, a friend of Devin had a connection to get us a job working for a cell phone company in the Bay area. And so we were like, Hey man, we want to go do that. And so they hooked us up with a job and they said, Hey, we'll like fly you out there and get you set up and you can start working with us. And we were like, man, that's awesome. And we were pumped. And so we flew back to the Bay. We were only there for like a couple of weeks and I was like, this job sucks. Like, I don't know what it is. I think we were doing, I think the job was like we were selling like AT&T or like a cellphone, like a cell phone plan. And it was commission based. And I'm not great at doing like sales, I guess. And so I was just, the job just didn't work out. And so I came back and I'm living at home again or I'm living at the bachelor pad with Devin. And this is where things get interesting for me. So I'm back and I was like 17, 18, something like that. And I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. And I have a car, but the car has no insurance. And I'm still like going through like a hard time financially because I'm paying rent. Like I'm barely paying rent and I, I'm a bad tenant too. So like we would get late notices to pay rent. Like we got evicted once I believe. And they, and I like begged the lady. I was like, ma'am, I'm like, I'm trying. And she was so cool with me. And she said, Hey, I know you are. She's like, but I need you to pay the rent. Like you got to pay it. And so I was like, all right. And so I paid it and we didn't get evicted and we stayed. And then I'm getting pulled over by the cops a lot because I got paper license plates on my car. Like I don't have license plates. I got a busted taillight. I got no insurance and I'm like, man, I'm costing myself so much money in tickets because they keep pulling me over and I get tickets. And my license gets suspended for some reason. I don't know why. I think it was because I didn't pay the tickets. So my license is suspended. And then I'm like, man, I just need to turn my life around. And so I remember sitting in my room at the bachelor pad and I said, Lord, if you're real, show me. Like, that was my, I was like, Lord, if you're real, show me. I don't know. And I said, show me. And I don't hear like an audible voice or anything, but I feel like God's like, come to my house. And so I went, cause when I was younger, when I first moved to, to Redding, the apartment complex that I lived at, there was a church that was pretty close to it or like down the street. And it was called Sojo, Sojourner Community Church. And I had gone there a couple times as a kid, because they had like this AWANA thing where you play games and do crafts and all this stuff. And you learn about the Bible, which I didn't care about when I was a kid, but I like the pizza and I like the games. So I went and I hung out and it was awesome. And so I met this older white lady named Jennifer there. And she said, Hey, just so you know, like we're having this thing tomorrow morning and you should come. And I was like, all right. And so on Sunday, I went and I like snuck in the back of the church and I stood there and I listened to this dude. And I don't even remember what he was talking about, but I felt this like sense of peace. I can't explain it. I felt like a sense of peace and I felt like okay, I can, I'm going to be okay. And so I kept coming. And then I started meeting all of these people who were like super welcoming. And they'd be like, Hey man, what's your name? And they, they would ask me things, like genuinely like care. Hey, how are you doing? And so they would ask, I told them about my situation and they said, Hey man, maybe we can help you out. We can help you with gas or food or whatever. And then this lady named Jen, she would buy me stuff. And she would be like, Hey, do you need gas? And she'd give me money for gas. She bought me a new pair of shoes. She bought me groceries. She'd like help me out with paying rent. And then I got connected to another lady there named Stacey. And Stacey said, Hey, I have a friend at an auto insurance and maybe he can help hook you up. So she said, his name's Jim. And so I don't remember Jim's last name, which is terrible because Jim's an amazing dude. But Jim said, Hey, I'm going to get you hooked up with insurance. And I was like, cool. And I was like, I don't have any money. And he's like, all right, cool. I'm going to get you hooked up. And he's like, how about like, I'll get it and you can pay for it throughout the year. And I was like, you would do that for me? And he's like, yeah, man. And I'm just, I'm nobody, you know? And I'm thinking like, why, why would you help me? And he's like, man, you're not nobody. And he said, I want to help you out. And he did. And he got me insurance. And then I'm like, well, I got to get this light fixed. And so I got my license plate. I got my light fixed. And I'm like, I got to get legit. Like I am going to like turn my life around. I, and so I got legit and I started working for Target doing like overnight stock, like making actually pretty decent money. And I was making like 10 bucks an hour or something like that. And then I believe at that time, I was still like trying to figure out what my like thing was going to be. And this dude named, I don't even remember his name. This white dude. He said, Hey, there's this dude over at like PG&E or Pacific Power. I don't know what it was, but he said, he's looking for an apprentice. And I was like, cool. I'll do it. And so I interviewed with this dude and he hired me and I worked under him and I was like working for this power company thing. And I was making decent money. And I was at that job for like six months. I really liked my boss. He was an older black guy and he had taught me like everything and he was like, Hey, we're going to get you like your training. And then I think the company like hired somebody to like do the billing or something. I don't even remember, but they like let us go. And so I lost my job. And I was like, ah man. And so then I kind of just was looking for work and I'd been at Sojo at this time for like over a year. And I'm like fully committed to Christ at this time. And I'm asking the Lord like, Hey, what do you want me to do? Like I'm lost. I don't know what I want to do. And so this dude, that same dude, I don't remember his name. And we can probably track him down because I need to thank him. He said, Hey, I was a cop. He's like, I was, I worked at one of these law enforcement agencies. He's like, I think you should look into it. And I was like, bro, I have a criminal record. Like they're not going to hire me. He's like, no, dude, you're a minor. He's like, you don't have a criminal record. He's like, you had like a couple of, like, I don't even know what they're called, like minor infractions or something. He's like, but you don't have a criminal record. He's like, I really think you should look into it. I was like, all right. And so I started doing research and I'm like sitting at the like desk at the church looking at stuff on the computer, because we didn't have a computer at my place. And I saw this like job posting for like the Sheriff's office or I think it was like a Corrections Officer. And I think I applied or I don't even know what I did, but I knew that I wanted to do that. But I knew I needed to get in good shape and I knew I needed to get into like a better place. So I started trying to get like in shape and I started going to the gym and working out. And then I started running and I'm like, I'm going to get like in the best shape of my life. And so I started doing all of this stuff. And so I did that for like a year. And I ended up quitting Target. And I can't remember what year this is, but I ended up quitting Target. And then I got hired by a painting company up here and I was painting. And I did painting and I was making decent money. And then I said, I had saved all this money and I was like, I really want to go to the police academy. And I found out you can sponsor yourself. And so I said, I'm going to sponsor myself. I'm going to pay for it. And it was like $5,000 at the time or like six grand, something like that. And I paid for it. And I said, I'm going to pay for it all up front. And so I paid for it and I'm committed to going to the police academy. And I went and I passed and I got hired. And I can tell you the guy who hired me, his name was Jim. And he was like a white dude, just super cool guy. And he saw something in me and he believed in me. And he said, Hey, we want to hire you. And they hired me. And so then I got hired and I've been working in law enforcement now for like 13, 14 years. And I'm, I cannot be more grateful for like this career. Like it has given me so much. And I've been able to like provide for my family. And like, I'm in a way better spot than I ever thought I would be. I never thought I'd be where I am right now. I never thought I'd have a family. I never thought I'd have a wife who loves me. I never thought I'd have kids. I never thought I'd be living in Redding. And I'm so grateful for everything that the Lord has like provided me.

So at Sojo, tell me, I'm going to walk back through this a little bit. You said Jen was her name?

Yes. Jennifer.

Jen or Jennifer. Did she work for the church or was she just a congregant?

She was just a congregant. She had been going there for years. And I don't even know like how she saw me. Like I literally was just standing in the back and she came up to me and said, Hey, I see you. And she said, I'm glad you're here. She's like, we should get you connected. She's like, let me introduce you to some people. And she introduced me to like a ton of people. And I just like, I knew that, I was like, this is, this is my spot. And I was so grateful. And I remember telling Jennifer this later, I said, thank you for like seeing me. And she's like, well, I saw you because the Lord saw you. And she's like, I, I just wanted to like make sure you knew that you're welcome here. And I'm like, man, I'm so grateful for her. She's amazing.

Do you see her still around?

I don't, I haven't seen her in years. But I think about her constantly.

And then you said there was a Jim that helped you out with insurance. It was a different Jim that hired you in law enforcement.

Correct.

There's a theme here. If your name is Jim and you live in Redding, you've probably helped Cameron out.

Yeah, the Jim's in my life, man.

So you go to police academy. You graduate. You get hired. You're in law enforcement. You're 19, 20?

Yeah, I think I'm like 19, 20. I know I was under 21 because I couldn't apply to, for the, I couldn't be a cop yet because I wasn't 21. And so I got hired as a Corrections Officer.

So you're in your early career, and then how did you meet your wife?

My wife, I met her at church, which is interesting. But I met her through like, I met her brother first at church and we connected and we were like best friends. And then I met her and I was like, dang, you're beautiful. And she was like, I don't like you. Not that she didn't like me, but like, she didn't like me. But I was like, I like her. And so then we, she was dating someone and so I wasn't going to like, I didn't try anything. I was just like, all right, cool. But then she ended up breaking up with whoever she was with. And I was like, yo, what's up? And she was like, I'm good. And I was like, all right. And so then we would just like hang out. And then I, we were hanging out at church. And then I asked her out one time and she said, no, we're just going to be friends. And I was like, all right. But I knew that like, I was like, man, I really like her. And like, this is going to be tough. But I said, Lord, if you want me to be with her, you're going to have to do it because I don't, I'm not pursuing her because I don't want to like mess up this friendship. And so a year later, we started dating and then we got married and we have three beautiful kids. And it's been like the most like amazing thing. And I'm so grateful for her because she has like put up with a lot of my stuff and a lot of my like trauma that I've carried. And she's been so graceful with me. And I'm so grateful for her.

So you're in law enforcement, you've got your own family. Things are going well. You started coaching, you said.

Yes. So I started coaching because my daughter had started playing baseball. And I wanted to coach her and I wanted to, and this is where like all of this stuff comes full circle is like, I want to be the person for these kids that I needed when I was younger. And so I coach baseball and I coach my daughter's team and I coach like other kids too. And I try to like be there for them. And I try to like pour into them in a way that I know that they need because like, I don't know their situation. I don't know what's going on with them, but I want to make sure that they know like, Hey, I see you. You're important. And like, you matter. And I think that that's like, that's what I really want these kids to know is like, you matter. And so I coach and I try to like be that person for these kids. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to like do that.

As you wind down here and we come to the close, what would you say to a teenager right now who's listening to this and they're facing some of the challenges that you faced? What would you say to them?

I would say that you're not defined by your circumstances. You're not defined by where you come from. You're not defined by like the things that have happened to you. You get to choose who you want to be. And I think that like, there's going to be people in your life who are going to try to tell you who you are or try to tell you like what you should be. But ultimately you get to decide that. And I would say like, find people who believe in you and find people who see you and find people who care about you. And like, let those people pour into you. And I would also say like, don't be afraid to ask for help. Like, I think that's one of the things that I struggled with is like, I didn't want to ask for help because I thought that like, I had to do it on my own. But like, you don't have to do it on your own. There are people who want to help you. There are people who want to see you succeed. And so like, don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help.

And then for parents, what would you say to parents of teenagers?

I would say like, be present. Like, I think that's like the biggest thing is like, be present in your kids' lives. Like, know what's going on with them. Like, know who their friends are. Know like what they're doing. Like, be invested in them. And I think that like, a lot of times parents are so busy with their own stuff that like, they forget to like be present with their kids. And I think that like, if you can be present and if you can like pour into your kids and like show them that you care about them, like that's going to make all the difference. And I would also say like, don't be afraid to ask your kids like what's going on with them. Like, I think a lot of times parents are afraid to like ask the hard questions because they're afraid of what the answer might be. But like, you need to ask those questions. You need to know what's going on with your kids so that you can help them.

I know that you, because of your profession, we had some limitations on what we could talk about publicly. But I want to, I want to thank you for sharing as much of your story as you could. And I want to thank your employer for allowing you to take some time to come here and share with us today. And I want to tell our audience that if they're believers in Christ, would you pray for Camaron, pray for his family, pray for his safety as he serves our community? And I'm grateful for you brother. Love you.

Love you too, man.