THE CONVERSATION
We've seen the problems of West Louisville.
We've shown you many of the crime related issues in the community right here on our newscasts.
But it's what we haven't shown you that's intrigued us and caused us to take a closer look at the neighborhood.
Tonight we show you what's right about West Louisville and the people you never see on TV watching out for kids who need them the most.
THE STORY
“I grew up in a household where there was substance abuse problems with my parents. There was violence within my household. There was violence in my neighborhood,” Ritchie Logsdon said. “I didn't have any plans on living past 21-years-old I never thought I'd live that long.”
Logsdon is not a face you are familiar with.
“I feel like my job is to provide service to the kids of today,” Logsdon said.
You won't see him holding news conferences but you will see him holding court at the Shawnee Boys and Girls Club. In the same community of West Louisville he grew up in and the same community he calls home now.
“It's been my life's work,” Logsdon said.
He is a mentor, a big brother, an uncle, a comfort to the kids who come into the center. He's been where they are and now spends his time showing them the road to success.
“I think I connect with them a lot because of my story but I think I connect with them just by how I try and live my life,” Logsdon said. “I live within the community that I serve so they are going to see me at the grocery store or at the barber shop or at the park in the summer at the Dirt Bowl.”
His time at the Boys and Girls club isn't a job to Logsdon.
He is giving kids a hand and lifting them up just like others did for him.
“I wouldn't know how to act if I was working to get a paycheck rather than doing what I feel is my life’s work.”
IMPACT: The 9th Street Divide
► PART 1: PERCEPTION
► PART 2: HOW DID WE GET HERE
► PART 3: JONATHAN'S STORY
► PART 4: ECONOMY
► PART 5: UNSUNG HEROES