If there’s one thing growing up through poverty taught me, it’s that sometimes the only thing stopping someone from having a comfortable life versus continuing to be poor is opportunity and a person to provide it. I think God tests us all when it comes to helping those in need. In my life I can tell you there were many who failed the call. My real dad left my mom before I was born and worse yet, when my mom was on welfare he begged her to not come after him for child support. Another failure was when I was released from foster care when I was nine and the State tried to pair me with male role models in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Program. Every single dude passed me over.

Those missed opportunities hurt and I made a promise to myself that I would never be like those failed models in my life. I love being a father to my wonderful daughters and I volunteered with Big Brothers, Big Sisters for three years. It feels good to fight darkness with light.

When I met Daya in January of 2013 we used to always end our Skype calls with a prayer. In that prayer we asked to “be a light” for the world. This was long before we were a part of 90 Day Fiancé so you can imagine how we felt after praying that prayer and then suddenly on TLC for the world to see. Ah, but God didn’t work like that. Here we were thinking doors were going to open to help others and be an inspiration to people’s lives. If you followed the season, you saw that it didn’t quite go like that. We learned a lot about how the reality TV game is played. Though Daya was often referred to as a “gold digger” that season, for those who followed her social media platforms, they realized she was anything but. However, because we felt blindsided by having to deal with damage control, I think we both felt like we missed an opportunity to help others. We were newly married and basically had no money so I’m sure we just used the show money for bills.

This time I wanted to do something different with my show money. My original plan was to buy a new toy that I’ve had my eye on for a long time but something didn’t feel right. The world is in a dark place right now. My wife and I are both working (for now), we have health insurance, shelter, food, transportation and are in good health. What more can we ask for? There are so many people who could use a helping hand and I want to do my part and offer mine.

I left a video on my podcast instagram page, The Tip Touch Podcast. If you or someone you know needs a helping hand, send me a DM there and we’ll go through each story and decide on a final one once I get paid. It’s not much, but it’s something. Our producer said we’ll probably be in three episodes and if that’s the case, I’ll get a check for $750. I have to keep 15% for taxes so the total to help someone should be about $638. I just want to be a light, a glimmer of hope in someone’s life during such trying time.

To be able to do this, I’m so grateful that Sharp Entertainment asked to have us on this Self Quarantined series. I know I’m a terrible example of how a Christian is supposed to act from the Church’s perspective. I cuss (a lot), my wife swears I’m an alcoholic because I drink a six pack of beer in a two week span, every now and then I like to light up a cigar and I’m very opinionated and set in my beliefs. However, I always try to do what I feel is right. I let my heart lead the way and I feel like God loves me for the broken man that I am. What helps me feel less broken is helping others and sharing my light with those who need it. Goodnight, world.