A successful program that puts troubled young men on the right track has received a major boost. Tom Flanigan reports the Fifty-Large effort has already racked up some impressive notches on its anti-gang gun
A few years ago, Chris Butler of Tallahassee was on the wrong track. Then he was recruited by a then-new program that helped turn him around.
“Fifty-Large helped me in many ways because it started me right out of high school. I used to make a lot of mistakes and get in trouble and once I got with the Fifty-Large family, they helped me out in so many ways that nobody could imagine. I started to do better in school and life, period.”
Today, Butler is a STEM scholarship student at Tallahassee Community College. That’s where Dr. Jim Murdaugh is president. He had a message for Butler and other Fifty-Large participants.
“And I can tell you I have seen success and I have seen failure. And you are the seeds of success and I must tell you I am proud for you to have this opportunity; I am proud of you for doing what it takes to become the kind of men that we will all be proud of.”
Wansley Walters is proud, too. She’s the secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
“Children, young men, need support. They need strong support, they need strong guidance. They need people advocating for them and fighting for them and helping them move into a productive future.”
Fifty-Large’s clients are at-risk young men between the ages of eleven and nineteen. They are required to dress and groom appropriately, show up ahead of time for all appointments, be polite, work hard and read. Larry Thompson is Fifty-Large program coordinator.
“It’s okay for them to dream. At the Fifty-Large family, the door is open. And if they’ll pull up their pants and pick up a book, we will help them develop that bright future.”
Since it began, Fifty-Large has mentored more than two-hundred young men. The money to do that comes from a long list of public and private partnerships. On Tuesday, Tallahassee restaurant owner Adam Corey called Fifty-Large leaders and clients, along with program supporters and the media, to his Crepevine Restaurant at the corner of Gaines Street and Railroad Avenue.
“We are giving a portion of our proceeds to Fifty-Large. So today, everything that’s sold in our restaurant, a portion, will go to this group. We do this for other organizations, too. But really, with what Larry’s doing, I want to do this every month. I want to find a day that’s a ‘Fifty-Large Day’ for the Crepevine and not just this Crepevine but all three of them. We have three locations here in town.”
More help came Tuesday from Mike Sheridan. Now retired, he started the F-B-M-C Benefits Management company.
“I have a check here for five-thousand dollars. It’s my money and you can’t spend it until you raise another five-thousand dollars in modest contributions; fifties, twenty-fives…you’ve got twenty-five dollars on you.”
That was followed by a final plea from Fifty-Large Program Coordinator Larry Thompson.
“This school system and community collaboration model, we are perfecting it and so join us. Join today. Thank you and I’ll be around.”
And, with ongoing help from the community-at-large, it’s a good bet the Fifty-Large program will stick around, too.
