Photo by Tony Gonzales
My Homeless Beginnings
by James Jones
I grew up homeless for the first 15 years of my life. I was in and out of homeless shelters, in and out of motels. My mother and father were heavy drug users. Actually, a lot of my family members were heavy drug users. It was a rough childhood. Nobody knew how hard my situation was but me.
I moved in with my grandmother when I was going into high school. By moving in with her, I was able to go to the same high school for all four years, able to have the same friends, have the same home to live in, have some stability for the first time in my whole life.
My main inspiration and my main hunger to be successful was my mom. When I was real young, I want to say maybe four or five years old, I told my mom that I was going to make it to the NFL and buy her a home. I had a vision and a belief that no matter what happened, no matter what anybody said, I was going to make it to the NFL. And that was my main drive. I'm not saying I was the perfect kid and I didn't get in trouble, but there were a lot times when my friends were going to do drugs or going to sell this or that, and my mom's face would flash in my head. That would remind me to go the other way or go to the gym. I was extremely motivated to change the whole situation.
Like I say all the time, I've played with a lot of guys who may have had more talent than me, but weren't willing to sacrifice the things that I sacrificed to make it. I had a hunger that I was not going to be denied. And any situation that presented itself that was going to take me off of that course, well, then I went the other way. I told my buddies I'm not drinking, I'm not smoking, I'm not going with you all to do this or that. I stood by that and was truly determined to change my situation. And I did go and buy my mom that home after my rookie year in the league.
I truly think that growing up homeless helps you appreciate the little things a lot more, helps you be grateful for so many things because you grew up wanting what everyone else had. Even now, when I walk into the stadium in the mornings and see that we have an all-you-can-eat breakfast every day, I still can't believe it. And sometimes I hear guys complaining that they serve the same thing all the time, and in my head, I'm like, 'Man, what in the world?! This is a blessing. I don't care if I have to eat a waffle everyday, at least I have something to eat.'
Just like with my kids now. They have their own room, their own bed. They are able to do swim class, play sports and do the things they want to do, everything I didn't have the opportunity to do when I was growing up. I just appreciate those things a lot more because I'm able to see what my kids have. It's humbling, but I'm very grateful for all the little things. I think that's one of the main things I took from being homeless; just appreciate the little things and be humble because at any time it all could be taken away from you.
Today, I do so much in the homeless community because I was once one of them. I understand all of the things that they are struggling with, all of the things that they are going through. When I was living in a homeless shelter, there were so many days that I woke up and wanted to quit or woke up and wanted to do something bad. But, when you have a positive influence in your life or can see someone who has been there – been homeless – doing something positive with their life now…I think it helps people.
To me, it's more important to touch somebody's life than to catch touchdowns on the football field. When I first got drafted, when I first made it to the National Football League, I told my wife that I wanted to start a foundation to give back because you can throw for as many yards as you want to throw for, catch as many touchdowns as you want to catch, but at the end of the day, I felt that God put me in this position to help and change other people's lives. And I felt like if I wasn't doing that, I wasn't truly using all of the ability God gave me. I felt like he blessed me to make it to the NFL to do such things as help the homeless shelters because that's the way I grew up. It means a lot more to me to change somebody's life, to change a little kid's life, than to go on the football field and win games or catch 1,000 touchdowns. It means more when I see little kids light up and when I'm able to change their lives and inspire them with my story.
Since I've been in the NFL, I've been giving back to homeless shelters. But the last couple years I really started telling my story and doing more. My Foundation, Love Jones 4 Kids, throws a fundraiser for the local homeless shelter every year called Toast to Success, where we have a live auction and a wine tasting. When I played for the Packers, the event benefitted a couple of the homeless shelters there. And now that I'm out here, back near where I grew up, we are working with the homeless shelters in this area. It's not the same shelter I was once in (they actually built a new one that's way nicer than the one I stayed in), but it's around the same area. We're also setting up another event now to donate to a homeless shelter in Oakland. My wife (who runs the Foundation) is getting that set up; to raise some money and donate a meal to them. I have another initiative called 89 Wishes, where we grant 89 wishes to kids who write in to our Foundation. You know, 89 is a lucky number because that's my football number.
Like I told my wife when we first started the Foundation, I never wanted to have one of these organizations where we just dish out money, but don't have any relationships with the people. So I go to the shelters as much as I can to talk to the people. My family and I donate a meal to the families there whenever we get a chance. I make sure that my family knows that we are truly blessed. My mother and father help too. We were once in this position, so the least we can do is give back and try to change some people's lives.
When I serve a meal at a shelter, I sit them all down and talk to them, let them know I've sat in the same seats they are sitting in. I tell them not to make any excuses and don't give up because it can't get worse than this. Keep striving to do better. Any time that I can get out there and share my story, feed the homeless, talk to them, help give them a positive word and some inspiration that 'yeah, it's hard right now, but keep on fighting, it's going to get better'…that's what I try to do.
And I really like to have a relationship with the kids. That's why everything I do through the Foundation is free. When I was in Green Bay, I threw football camps and I always host one in California. Everything is free. And I do it that way because when I was little, my mom didn't have the money to pay for me to participate in any camps or anything like that. I try to reach out to the kids that way.
Sometimes people ask what type of mark I want to leave on the Bay Area homeless community. To be honest with you, if you were to walk into a homeless shelter and ask the people there, 'What does James mean to you?', I would want them to say that he loves us, he cares about us. It's beyond football or money or any of that. It's about changing their lives. I just want them to know I care.
Long story short, that is my life story.
Going through all of this is what I truly believe made me the man I am today, and I always feel like God put me in that situation because he felt like I could handle it. It's a touchy subject in my heart, which is why I try to go out there and inspire people who are homeless today to keep fighting and do great things.
Thank you to NFL Player Engagement for providing Raiders.com with James Jones' blog. You can find more from players around the league at http://nflpe.sportsblog.com.
