HARRISBURG, Pa. — "I've been doubted my whole life. Coming out of the Milton Hershey School I wasn't expected to get a full scholarship to go and play at Penn State. After being injured half my Penn State career I wasn't expected to to make a team in the NFL," recalled Garry Gilliam Jr.
The Harrisburg native new from an early age that sports was going to play a key role in his life.
"Any time I walked onto a baseball field, a basketball court, a football field, no matter what it was, the coaches were really excited because of how big I was. I figured that there might be a chance there. My mom was an athlete, too," said Gilliam.
As Garry's mother told FOX43 in 2014, sending him away to the Milton Hershey School at eight years old was a tough decision to make, one she weighed for two years.
Pointing at the apartment their family used to live in, Thelma Shifflett recalled, "He would ask that same question. 'Where do you think I'd be, Mom, if we stayed here?'" She'd answer "I don't know. But I wasn't taking a chance."
"I was pulled out of the environment of Harrisburg that didn't have resources. So just that in of itself, I've got to take this opportunity and run with it," said Gilliam.
Gilliam was a standout at the Milton Hershey School both in the classroom and on the field. That continued at Penn State University and then the National Football League, but Gilliam's toughest foe is coming off the field.
"Eighty-eight percent of NFL players are bankrupt within two years of being done. So it's like it's a zero-sum game there. Why would I keep going home and to preach this dream, when in reality I want to change our culture so that we realize that we can do business, agriculture, use credit to buy real estate, or like whatever the case may be? Let's create some type of STEM camp. That was kind of like the first thought," said Gilliam.
That's where Gilliam's The Bridge comes into play. The for-purpose real estate development company announced plans to turn the old Bishop McDevitt High School on Market Street, into an eco village. It's an idea similar to what Milton Hershey first came up with, now being planned by Milton Hershey School graduates.
"I mean Milton Hershey himself was a trailblazer, right? He created spaces for them to work, eat, live, learn, and play," said Gilliam. It was something I was used to being in, as well as a lot of the founders, and we attribute a lot of our success to that environment."
The Bridge hopes to expand to other cities, but Harrisburg will be the first.
"It's literally the model city of oppression, unfortunately. There is redlining. There's one grocery store within the city limits. The school district is ranked almost last in the in the state, there are high cancer rates and obesity rates, and just a lot of issues. We wonder why we're not attracting bigger corporations to our city to provide job opportunities and higher wages. But, we've got to make it attractive. right? Well, let's break it down. Let's start working together. we don't need to attract other corporations. Those brilliant individuals are probably right here in our community," said Gilliam.
The Bridge made their announcement in January of 2020, not knowing that the next few months would only highlight the need for what they're trying to accomplish in the mid-state.
"It's almost kind of like the story of Noah and Noah's ark, right?" When Noah and his family start building an ark, people are like 'What are you doing? There's a drought happening. There's no rain. What are you building this boat for?' And then the flood happens, right? So then 2020 happens. This isn't just because of 2020, this is all born out of lived experiences, said Gilliam. "Seeing what I went through, growing up before I went to a certain school, my family, what is currently and is still going on in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and not just talking about it or complaining about it, and not just dropping a back in the hood, but really dismantling these systems of oppression and creating what we call systemic empowerment."