This is the personal memoir of Melvin Jenkins Richey who was born in 1944 on a cotton plantation in Mississippi. Melvin moved to Santa Barbara, California in the early 1960s and raised five children. As a single mother, she earned her high school diploma and AA and BS degrees. She worked for the Better Business Bureau for 18 years and during that time she founded the Endowment for Youth Committee in an effort to create an environment that would give black youth an opportunity to grow. Melvin continues to serve, at her church and as a loving mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She tells her story in the hope that it will inspire and encourage her family members and her readers.