27 years ago today, I met my Big Brothers “little”, Nick: One of the most transformative relationships of my life.

By 8, he would become an AIDS orphan. His circumstances were so divergent from my own, and unable to reconcile that, I upended my whole path and took a new one.
Right before his mother died in 1994, I promised her I would get her son to college.

This is Nick’s graduation from @wjcollege in 2009 with G, and Karl.

By then, I just won my 2nd term as Braddock’s mayor. A path that Nick and his circumstances put me on 15 years earlier.
Today, Nick is a 36 year old man-12 years older than I was when we met- and works for an organization that helps the formerly incarcerated acclimate onto a new path.

I am your LG, and before you today, but for that core observation of our society I first fully absorbed in 1994.
Both @giselefetterman and I have both been @BBBSA “bigs” most of our adult lives.

If you’re able, please consider enriching the life of a child by become a Big Brother or Big Sister today.
You can follow @JohnFetterman.
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