Elvin: My name is Elvin, Boys Town class of 1997.
Elvin: I was born in Puerto Rico in 1978. And when I was one year old, we moved to New York City. Lower East Side, Manhattan, single mom, three kids. By the time I was in middle school, high school, you know, we were very poor. There were many times when my mom would, you know, swallow her pride and knock on a neighbor's door so that we can eat.
Elvin: Neighborhood that I grew up in was 1980s, 90s, a heavily drug-infested area. When I was 16 years old, I sold heroin to an undercover cop, not a good idea. And I ended up in a detention center run by Boys Town in Brooklyn. And it was in that detention center where even the possibility of coming to Nebraska was even presented.
Elvin: And then I remember driving onto the campus. And I remember it was like this idyllic streets and, you know, and we're driving in and I'm like, "Whoa, this is real. This is a real place."
Rhonda: I'm Rhonda Betzell, I'm a former Family-Teacher at Boys Town.
Bobby: And, I'm her husband, Bobby Betzell. We were Family-Teachers for six years.
Elvin: My relationship with them was, you know, they give instructions, they help us make decisions, they keep us on the straight and narrow, that kind of thing. But I think in the personal conversations is where relationships started to be built.
Rhonda: I think the Boys Town model works because it is made like a family.
Bobby: Yeah, we just loved them, they loved us back. And that happened with all the boys, but especially with Elvin.
Elvin: They were the template that I would use because I didn't have one. And so, you know, what's it look like for me to be a father? What's it look like for me to be a husband? What do those things look like? They were my model.
Elvin: I look back and it was in those early days, where my perspective and the way I view people started to change. And it was while I was at Boys Town.
Elvin: And so I'm one of the pastors at One Hope Church. And we are a diverse church in Omaha. Our mission is to multiply diverse disciples in churches. We wanna see every neighborhood, nation, and generation transformed by the love of Jesus. And, that's what I do.
Bobby: It always amazes me how much he loves other people, I mean, even strangers. We planted the seeds and now they're full blown.
Elvin: What I love most is being able to see people experience life change. I see their light bulbs go off and I say, oh, I recognize that because that's what happened to me.
Elvin: Boys Town was a life-saving experience for me. I'm so thankful for Boys Town. I'm so thankful.
