If anybody has a story to tell, it’s Lawrence J. White.
Now 21 years old, the Pittsburgh native has lived practically everywhere—Wilkinsburg, McKeesport, Hill District, Penn Hills, Lawrenceville, even Zelienople. And not necessarily by choice.
White lived in foster homes, group homes or shelters from the age of 10 to 20. Now a student at Daytona State College in Florida, he has added “author” to his resume. He penned “The Hero In My Soul,” which is available on Amazon. A release party was held, April 13, at the Carnegie Library’s East Liberty Branch. There, a number of foster parents family members and friends came by to celebrate the occasion, complete with refreshments, laughter, and praise for White, who told the Courier that “this is my coming of age. This is more so, ‘I overcame, I made it.’”
One of White’s foster parents, Bernadine Brewer, is credited with inspiring White to write a book initially. In the book, Brewer talks about her time with White. “Taking Larry to church, getting him up for school, washing his clothes, cooking his meals, being a counselor, being a mom, being a teacher, being a preacher, being a coach, being a cheerleader…being everything that I needed to be in order to help him get to where he needed to be.”
As a foster child, White told the Courier he was often misunderstood. But he said people didn’t realize he didn’t understand himself. “I didn’t understand myself because I didn’t know who I was,” White said. “By being put in so many different environments at different times so quickly, it forced me to adapt, but also it allowed me to experience each parent, each family for who they truly are, and it allowed them to experience me for who I am at heart.”
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