As he prepares to graduate from the children’s home, Nestor realizes he was given a second chance at life.
Inside the Weller Cottage, which is active with young men running to and fro, there is a wall dedicated to graduates. Each senior photo is strategically placed in a row and proudly stamped with a name and date, each one representing a young man who has overcome adversity.
When Nestor looks back on his time at the children’s home, he can’t believe he will be the next face added to that wall.
Having come to the children’s home at age 7 from northern Philadelphia, he has spent a majority of his life surrounded by the house parents and friends he now calls part of his family.
“I moved around a lot as a kid,” Nestor says, “from block to block without ever really feeling safe. I mean, there was a shooting every other day.”
Nestor distinctly remembers his first trip to the children’s home for a long weekend, which symbolized the beginning of the rest of his life. “I remember sleeping in the car on the way here and waking up in a whole new place,” Nestor recalls. “At first, it felt like sleeping over at a friend’s house, but eventually it became more permanent, because I knew this is where I was going to be.”
Matt Clouser, who has been a house parent for nearly 20 years, was the first person Nestor met. “That must have impacted me, because I still remember it today,” Nestor said. “He made me laugh. At that time, that was special.”
After permanently moving to the children’s home, Nestor adapted as well as a 7-year-old could. “I remember so much about growing up here,” he says. “I remember the camping trips, playing in the backyard and sleeping in on the weekends. I remember packing lunches and going to the pool every day.”
On these days, Nestor was always the last one out of the pool. “My hands and feet would look like prunes,” he recalls. Fortunately, those day trips would later inspire him to become a lifeguard, with the help of CPR-certified house parent Dave Rosensteel, and take his first job at the same pool he grew up enjoying.
“I look at all these memories as part of who I am. It was also regimented here. Everyone was nice, but they always let me know that not doing the work wasn’t a choice. It became the new norm for me.”
When Nestor’s sister, Noelia, moved to the children’s home a few years later, he was proud to show her the ropes. “I told her it would be okay,” Nestor said. “She hung out with me until she got friends of her own. After that, she has done really well here.”
The children’s home gave both Nestor and Noelia stability, which has helped them grow academically, and most importantly, personally. As Nestor is preparing to attend the Aviation Institute of Maintenance in Philadelphia and take on adult responsibilities, he is learning how to complete tax forms and come up with a personal budget, with advice from children’s home staff. He is excited to live life on his own, taking the skills and lessons he’s learned with him.
Nestor doesn’t remember much from his childhood before the children’s home, but he does know enough to say his life would be extremely different without the place that’s given him nearly everything he values most.
“You could tell there were some struggles in my family,” Nestor said. “Without the children’s home, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Where I’m from, they have metal detectors in their schools. There would have been no real way to develop the hobbies I have now.”
Nestor is spending his senior year on the swim team, volunteering in the community, reading and practicing calligraphy, a talent which he says came from writing sentences as punishment (creatively discovered by a house parent who values writing) for staying outside too long or not cleaning his room as a child.
“If I were to tell someone about my life, the children’s home would have a lot to do with it,” Nestor says. “Moving on will be hard. It’s like taking a test. You’re prepared for it, but you still don’t want to take it.”
Fortunately, Nestor’s sister will still be at the children’s home, so he will have plenty of reasons to visit.
“It’s weird to think I won’t have my bed or my room anymore,” Nestor said. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve sat in my bed and wondered what I was going to do that day. Now, I guess I have to know.”
Looking into the future, Nestor hopes to travel the world with the free flights he will get from becoming an airplane mechanic. He doesn’t like to look too far in advance, but he does know one thing.
“The relationships I’ve made here are the ones I should have always had,” Nestor says. “The people here were always there for me, and I know I’m going to be there for my future family one day, and I can say I got that from this place. I can say they taught me that.”