From the time he was a teenager, Sheldon Theragood has mentored young kids. With dreams of becoming an NBA basketball player, Mr. Theragood often practiced on the ball court and would teach ball tricks to kids who wanted to learn from him. “I was able to dribble the ball very well. Kids would actually come to the game just to see me make some moves,” he laughed. “It made a place in my heart.”
But due to arthritic pain in his hips, Mr. Theragood was cut from the basketball team during his junior year of college at Texas Southern University. “I had to figure out what else I could do,” he said. He got hired as a youth detention officer in Harris County, Texas. “Working there, I was going to be around teenagers who had made life mistakes. I felt like that was going to be a great place for me to help teenagers.”
Mr. Theragood spent time mentoring the youth, listening to them, and helping them build a plan for when they would be released. However, after working there for four years, he was discouraged to see some of the youth get re-detained. “All the staff were excited to see this kid leave and all of a sudden two months later, he’d be back.”
He decided that becoming a police officer was the best way he could help. “I thought that was the only position for me; the whole deal for me was to save the kids’ lives out on the streets, and to do whatever it takes—that’s my motto—to make a difference.” While patrolling the streets, Mr. Theragood would not only encounter at-risk teens but also many homeless. When he first joined the Houston, Texas, police force, he became a member of the police department’s homeless outreach team, which would provide housing, rehab, access to daily necessities like clothing and toiletries, and services meant to help them get out of homelessness. Mr. Theragood then realized that he could teach teens valuable lessons through introducing them to the homeless men and women he met. “I brought them so that they could understand that nobody’s born like this,” he said. “This is just choices. Hey man, this could be you. Sometimes you have to be realistic with them and give them that little scare so they start thinking, ‘I want to change my life.’”
So in 2010, Mr. Theragood got the inspiration to start TheraGood Deeds, a nonprofit to involve children of all ages and backgrounds in community service. He envisioned gathering kids with a troubled past and straight-A students, hoping that they would learn from each other’s experiences. After he got support from a community center to introduce kids to his program, his nonprofit took off, with children ages 4 to 16 doing at least one community outreach project per month. Activities range from serving in soup kitchens to hosting a Christmas toy drive and organizing celebration events for the homeless. He is constantly looking for new project ideas. “Wherever the help is needed, we want to provide a service. I’ll never say no.”
The children enjoy spending time together and making new friends. “We have a good time, so it’s also catering to their enjoyment of life,” he said. “We hang out, we go to the basketball court and play. Their friends see them being part of something that looks exciting, and they want to join, too.” Over the years, some of the teens who joined TheraGood Deeds have grown up and gone to college, and thanks to donations from local sponsors like the Ashley Jadine Foundation, the nonprofit is able to provide them with scholarships.
Princess Jackson, 21, started doing outreach projects with TheraGood Deeds in 2014 and said that the experience has taught her humility by seeing and working with people in need. Ms. Jackson, who also happens to be Mr. Theragood’s stepdaughter, said that her stepfather also showed through his example how to be a giving person who serves others. “He is a great man of faith. Not only does he tell you what is the right thing to do, but he shows it and he walks it.”
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
