Johnny – Former Foster Youth

Hi, my name is Johnny. I’m 20 years old. I’m a foster alumni. I aged out of the system at 18 and I was still a junior in high school. At the end of my junior year, I moved out on my own trying to support myself and trying to graduate from high school at the same time. Everyone thought I wouldn’t graduate because of my learning disability and because I was living on my own. I graduated from Deer Park High in 2012, and have been living on my own since June 2011. Living on my own has been tough, but it’s taught me many life lessons. I haven’t had to ask for any help, but lately I have been struggling a little bit financially and heard about Safety Net from my older brother Michael. We both work at a vineyard part time and it’s really fun. I’ve worked there since my junior year in high school. But when times were hard, my hours got cut, I needed help with bills and Safety Net was there to help pay some bills.