A Clean Sweep for Sammy

Day 16 - Photo 16. Sammy sweeps. He moves with a quick step. He has a happy heart. He has purpose. Sammy Lopez has spent 37 of the 63 years of his life in prison. "I didn't ever do nothing violent. It was drugs. Mostly doping. Ya know?" Sammy says he found the Lord 12 years ago and has been clean since. And five years ago he got his first job with Los Padrinos Youth Services of Southern California.
"The Padrinos...it was my first job, because of all the time I spent going in and out of prison." Now along with a paid job for Los Padrinos Sammy also mentors at-risk youths for Los Padrinos, a community youth-service organization that works with at-risk or court ordered youths for beautification and cleanup of the city, including graffiti removal, weed abatement and trash removal from vacant lots.
Sammy believes he's been able to make a difference working with kids. "The kids they look a me and say, you sweep so fast for an old guy!" And for Sammy, it's still a clean sweep.