DETROIT (WXYZ) — Ray Winans has seen the best and the worst a person has to offer to another human being.
He was just 9-years-old when his father was murdered on Detroit's west side. He was 11 when a cousin was murdered, and he was 13 when he witnessed a friend being killed.
"I was in a race against time. I had to live fast because I knew I was going to die young," said Winans, now 40, as he sat outside the Wayne County Juvenile Facility where he was first locked up for carrying a sawed off shotgun at school when he was 13. That's where he told 7 Action News that he met staff members who showed him love.
"They embraced me in a real way and really showed me what black men can represent, honestly," Winans said. "At the time, I didn't get it. I just knew they loved me. I knew I loved them,"
Winans said he began his transformation after his release from a federal prison on a drug conviction. He said he got off the bus and his mom asked him to stop his life of crime – and he did.
Winans said he accepted Christ and got a job working at a local grocery story. However, it was when he saw the 2012 murder of baby Delric Miller on the news that he decided he had to do something to help others avoid a life of violence.
Winans co-founded D.L.I.V.E. (Detroit Life is Valuable Everyday) with two friends and they counsel victims of violence. D.L.I.V.E. is based out of Sinai Grace Hospital where the men counsel victims of violence to steer them away from further violence, including acts of retaliation.
The hope is that young people will see any trouble as a temporary situation.
"My life serves as a possibility for a lot of these young people in here," Winans said. "When you start seeing the value in people instead of seeing what's wrong with them, then and only then do I think we'll have the transformation in the city that we need."
Click here to learn more about D.L.I.V.E.
