Four years ago, Laura Howe, an Education Assistant, met Chris Moutray, a Grade 8 student whose face was hidden under a hood and whose eyes were "empty".

Chris had just drawn a box and, when asked why, told Laura that this was his vision of his future living on the street with a cardboard box as his home.

"It broke my heart," she says now, "to see someone so young and so lost. So I decided I would make contact with him everyday and at least say hello. I could feel that he had put a protection around himself and I just wanted him to know that someone would be there whenever he chose to come out."

Four years later, Chris is about to graduate from Grade 12, he sees a good future for himself and he credits Laura Howe's constant support for helping him get to where he is.

So this column is about two Neighbourhood Heroes: Chris Moutray who found the inner strength needed to succeed and Laura Howe who was there, day in and day out, to help him find that strength.

When Chris entered Grade 8, he had a lot of challenges in his life outside school and, as a result, he very quickly fell behind in his studies. In his words, his life "started to plummet".

"I had just given up," he says. "I definitely thought of myself as someone who would end up living on the street. When you give up on yourself, you get blinded and all you see is the bad stuff but Miss Howe was always there if I needed someone to talk to and the more I talked, the more I began to see things differently." In short, he's had a complete 180-degree turn around.

Chris is a young man who is wise beyond his years. Here are some of the insights and suggestions he has for young people who find them selves about to give up on life ... and for the adults who are close to them.

First, here is his advice for those adults.

"Just be there and listen. Let the kid figure it out for himself because if you tell him what to do, he's just going to get frustrated and go back to what he was doing before."

He also reminded me that positive change is not likely to happen overnight. Remember it took him three years or more.

Chris' main advice to young people in trouble is … find someone to talk to.

"Once you get the little problems talked out," he says, "you start to feel better about yourself and you can keep going until you get over the bigger problems. When you do, it's the greatest feeling because you boost your self-esteem and your confidence and that's what we all need."

Chris has another Neighbourhood Hero in his life too. He lived with his friend's family for six months last fall and his friend's mom taught him how to handle his anger through reading, going for walks and participating in sports. He's thankful for her help.

I suspect that Chris Moutray has learned more during his high school years than most students and now he's ready to "find a job, live a little and save enough money to upgrade his education."

He'd like to do something with his hands but he's not yet sure exactly what that might be. But one thing is for sure. If you are looking for a highly motivated, hard-working young employee, Chris Moutray would be a good choice.

If you want to talk to him, you can reach him by calling me at 741-7499.