Auterio Porterfield

Oasis of Hope has made a big change in my life. My name is Auterio Porterfield and I grew up in North Memphis in a neighborhood called Oates Manor, better known as Scutterfield. I attended Caldwell Elementary from early childhood to the 5th grade. I attended Humes Middle School from the 6th to the 8th grade. Now I attend Manassas High and I’ve been there since the 9th grade. I am now a senior, and I am the senior class president at Manassas. I am involved in basketball, football, A.V.I.D., Old Timer’s club and president of the student council. A typical afternoon for me is football and basketball practice depending on the time of year. After practice if I am not too tired, I will hang out at “The Green House” (aka “Oasis of Hope”).

My first memory with the Oasis of Hope was the academic REWARDS program with Ms. Sherrie. I first heard about it from some of my friends that were already involved in the program. I started going to the REWARDS program often. I met more people from the ministry like Ms. Alissa, Ms. Karen, Ms. Kim, and Mr. Terry. Ms. Alissa started inviting me to church and now she is like a big sister to me.

Being a part of Oasis of Hope has made me get the thought out of my head that I’m from nothing North Memphis, and I won’t be able to do anything in my life but do wrong things and go down the wrong road. Instead, it makes me believe that I am a smart, unique young man and with the help of God, I can do and be whatever I want to be if I put my mind to it.

I have been involved in numerous things through Oasis of Hope. One of these things is the V.I.P. (Vocational Internship Program) youth summer jobs internship program. I was accepted into the 2006 V.I.P. program and worked 25 hours a week for 7 weeks at “For The Kingdom Camp” in Raleigh. This program helped me to put money in my pocket and stay out of the trouble that awaited me in the neighborhood. Another program is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes - FCA Football Camp at Hope. I learned a lot there including the love of Jesus Christ, and how there is no greater love than Jesus Christ.

As a young man, I want to be the best leader that returns and gives back to the neighborhood, and helps the upcoming youth that are coming from where I am now. When I graduate from high school, I want to go to college and major in physical education and business management. When I accomplish that I want to give back to the community by becoming a mentor and helping families in the community.

Without the Oasis of Hope, I do believe my life would be way more off track than it is now. I don’t believe I would be in church or trying to do right and be a leader. I think I would’ve gone to juvenile court for a lot of the wrong things, and I probably wouldn’t know how the true love of God feels.

Auterio Porterfield