A high school student who lived in his car in Richmond, Virginia, ended up graduating with several full-ride college scholarships.
Max Jones, 19, spent several months attending George Wythe High School and working at a local restaurant while living out of his car, Atlanta News First reported.
“I went through a lot,” he said. “I was homeless for a long period of time.”
“I still wore the same clothes. They were never clean, they were never dirty. They were just wearing the same clothes. Like sweats, joggers, crocs,” he said.
Jones said he ended up homeless because of his chaotic upbringing. The high school senior said he lived with his half-siblings and his mom, who struggled financially and worked an “extreme amount.” Jones said his family situation worsened “when his half siblings’ fathers came back into their lives, leaving him and his mother alone,” according to the report.
Jones ultimately decided to step out and make a life-changing decision.
“I know my life is bad, so I took the bus, I paid for a ticket,” Jones said.
Jones ended up in Richmond, where he attended George Wythe and ended up bouncing around to different homes. He ended up saving up enough cash to buy himself a car to live out of, and he noted he was “not able to take showers…not able to eat.”
Jones said teachers and mentors would try to help him, giving him food and sometimes paying for hotel stays when they could afford to.
But then Jones received help from Pastor Robert Winfrey from the New Life Deliverance Tabernacle after the pastor came to his school one day.
“I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t completely dismantled because of his situation,” Winfrey said.
Winfrey met Jones and ended up offering for Jones to stay at the church cottage until he graduated, where he received food, a clean bathroom, and a safe place to sleep.
“All he needed was that one push, and thank God so far he got that push,” Winfrey said.
With the help of his community, Jones will soon walk across the graduation stage, and he said he has received full scholarships to Virginia Union University in Richmond, Ohio State, and Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.
“Maybe I might not be fully conscious of what I’m saying right now, but I’m going to change the world and I’m going to give back to everybody that gave to me. Everybody,” he said.
