Chris Baird is hoping to help young people stay on the right path in life — he says choices he made in his youth leave him feeling fortunate to be alive.
The 27-year-old Halifax man admits he’s made some mistakes in the past that could have lead to him ending up behind bars or even dead.
“I was a youth that hung around on the streets, I was a violent youth, I drank, I did drugs, just took all the wrong paths,” Baird told Global News.
“I feel pretty lucky actually because there’s many people that only took one wrong path and they’re not here to talk about it.”
READ MORE: Police, officials looking ‘very, very closely’ at causes of Halifax gun violence
Life changing tragedy
A few years ago, Baird’s friend Thabang Gumbi Tshabalalaa was killed when the gun he was carrying discharged while fleeing from police in downtown Halifax.
It’s an experience Baird says made him re-evlauate his life.
“It’ll be three years in February, my best friend passed away and I started to want to change then,” he said.
“I didn’t fully change all the way then, but I slowly, slowly did. I still made mistakes, but now I’m trying to make a full change.”
WATCH: ‘Unbelievable father,’ loyal and charismatic; friends remember Shakur Jefferies
Helping youth through experience
In light of recent violent acts in the city, Baird is working hard to get a new program called “Choose the Right Path” off the ground.
“We’re going to target kids the ages 10 to 15, basically teach them the right path to choose in life and the difference between the right and the wrong path,” he said.
“I think it’s harder to change then it is to not even go down that path in the first place”
The goal of the program is to help young people make positive choices early on in life and avoid negative behaviour that leads to trouble.
Baird believes by interacting with youth and teaching them about his life, he can help steer them in the right direction.
“I’ve actually been there. I find that’s the key part. There’s other programs and other things going on, but the people actually haven’t had the knowledge of being out in the streets and knowing, so I find that I can tell the kids, I’ve actually been there.”
Baird is looking for ideas and community support to help him in the development of his new program. His plan is to start in his own community, Halifax’s north end, where he’s meeting with his first school next week.
The hope is to one day be a positive role model and reach young people across the city.
Baird is encouraging anyone interested in getting more information about Choose the Right Path to contact him.
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- ‘Shock and disbelief’ after Manitoba school trustee’s Indigenous comments
- Several baby products have been recalled by Health Canada. Here’s the list
- ‘Sciatica was gone’: hospital performs robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canadian first
Comments