Breaking Away From Life on the Edge
By Joe O’Neill

Willie Green won’t soon forget the night last year his world almost came crashing down, literally, around him. There was a high-speed police chase near his family’s apartment in the tough, McLaren Circle part of Kissimmee, Fla. The drivers bailed out, with the stolen car careening out of control and slamming into the Orlando-area housing project. It narrowly missed the bedroom of Green’s mom and stepdad, Melenye and Willie Washington, but not that of his baby sister, Tatyana. Fortunately, the 3-year-old had slipped into her older sisters’ room, for the car had plowed into the bed she had vacated.

"I remember being awakened about 3 a.m. by this awful noise that sounded real close," recalls Green, now 17. "It was the scariest thing that ever happened to me."

Neither will Green forget the night he lost his good friend Anthony Jones.

One evening in April, Green was joking around with Jones, his former Osceola High School football teammate. Nearby, a few moments of juvenile by-play provided deadly serious counterpoints in a neighborhood where drugs, prostitution and gunshots were commonplace. Twenty minutes later, Anthony Jones had been shot in the back. He later died.

"That affected me a lot," says Green. "It was difficult to deal with because he was my friend, and it was a reminder that in that neighborhood anything, anytime can happen. You never know what you might get caught in the middle of."

Today, for Green and his family, however, the chances of getting caught up in a drive-by shooting or having a high-speed chase dead-end in a bedroom have been greatly reduced. Just two weeks after Jones’ death, the family—Green, his parents, and sisters DaMeta, 19; LaRhonda, 16; and Tatyana, 4; moved into their Habitat house. An elderly aunt is now their next-door neighbor.

"Where they used to live was pretty rough," says Osceola High School principal Chuck Paradiso. "I know it was a relief to them when they moved; they’re a good example of the kind of family Habitat is looking for."

Such assurance gets no quarrel from Ed Sackett, an HFH of Osceola County board member and a mentor of Green’s since middle school.

"Willie could probably be a poster child for Habitat," says Sackett, a staff photographer for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. "He’s a good student and an exceptional athlete who has remained refreshingly humble. They’re all good kids with two working parents who are doing all they can to raise them right."

In fact, when the fledgling affiliate went looking for its first-ever Habitat homeowner, it selected the family of Willie Washington, a pottery worker and volunteer ninth-grade football coach at OHS, and Melenye, who works at a restaurant nearby.

"I think I can get used to the quiet," says Melenye Washington with a wink and a smile. "Before, I was always concerned about the kids being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now we count our blessings every day."

Washington, a proud, no-nonsense woman with a gregarious manner, points toward one of Green’s many football trophies and underscores another reason the family is thankful for its Habitat relocation.

"He’s the only boy with three sisters," she explains. "And they all have girlfriends. If anybody needs some space, it’s Willie. But he’s never complained."

To say Willie Green is a good kid who doesn’t complain is like saying Abraham Lincoln was a good lawyer. True, but there’s so much more.

The reason Green has all those trophies is that he is arguably one of the best high school running backs in the country—a gifted athlete who’s also an honor roll student with a 3.3 grade point average. Every major college program has him on its wish list, and it’s a given that the National Football League data banks already have him on file. He’s a bona fide legend-in-the-making at Osceola High, which he led to the Florida 5-A state championship last year as a junior.

At 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, he’s frequently compared to Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys—and native of Pensacola, Fla. In fact, if Green plays injury-free in his senior year, he could shatter Smith’s high school records, once considered all but unbreakable.

The person least impressed by all the fame and media attention, however, is Willie Green, who routinely deflects praise to teammates and his mom.

He is "totally unselfish," says Jim Scible, veteran OHS head coach. "He’s a special kid. He’s a leader who brings out the best in those around him. He is sensitive to the needs of every other kid on the squad. That’s why they all respect him."

And that’s why so many of his teammates—and coaches, including Scible—showed up as volunteers one Saturday to join Green in hanging Sheetrock for the family’s Habitat house.

"That made me feel proud," says Green, "when they all came over to help out. It means people care for you more than you think. They were here as friends, not just teammates. But in a way, they were still teammates, because you need people acting as a team to build a house the right way."

In the next 30 minutes in the United States…

• 200 children will drop out of school;
• 45 children will be born into poverty;
• five children will be arrested for violent crime;
• one child will be wounded by gunfire.

—The Children’s Defense Fund

"It’s amazing what a child can do if you put them in the right environment. Tell all the Habitat people that they’re sure enough making a difference in children’s lives, they’re sure enough making a difference."

—Dewey Furr,
Habitat homeowner, Sarasota, Fla.

"I know my mother wants us to have what is best for us. That is a roof over our heads and clothes on our back, also to have food on our table. My mother prayed a lot and she finally got the things she dreamed of. I love my new home."

—Shanell Wadley, 17
Homestead, Fla.

Joe O’Neill is a writer based in Tampa, Fla.


Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, October/November 1999.
This article may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
©1999 Habitat for Humanity International