“Everything I do, I do with everything I have…” - Terrance Freeman

Terrance Freeman discusses his push for mental health legislation and helping those regardless of socio-economic status in this Story From the Heart.

Everything I do, I do with everything I have, because those people who are going to take their time, nice and easy trying to get across the finish line, I’m going to beat them. That one run of 90 feet changed the paths of our lives and has me sitting here today. I want that for others and I’m going to fight hard to get it.

My name is Terrance Freeman and I am a Jacksonville City Council Member, as well as Vice President this year.

My story began when I went to an event and heard Sheryl’s story of losing Alex, and it was such a powerful story that it drew me in. Getting to know her better, I walked away saying “what role can I play in my position as a City Council Member to help ensure that no one else loses their Alex?” We landed on a piece of legislation that appropriated a quarter of a million dollars for a mental health awareness campaign. We’re trying to fight to break down the stigma of mental health, regardless of your zip code, regardless of your socio-economic status. I was just excited to have that opportunity.

I was fortunate enough to play several years of professional baseball. The weight and the pressures of being a professional athlete in an area where most people or some might have been, utilizing performance-enhancing drugs and I chose not to was enormous. Trying to compete and then ultimately getting released, facing that pit of depression where your body fails you, and you’re stuck now saying “where do I go in life?” 

Now, I coach boy’s baseball, and the team that I’m coaching now, originally started with coaching primarily kids whose baseball has priced itself out from them. I know just how much baseball changed my life. 35 different states I played and coached in, five countries I’ve had the privilege of playing and coaching in. The network across the country, and the world, has opened so many doors for me, and, selfishly, I want that for other kids that remind me a lot of myself when I was growing up.

But I pivoted, and I shifted to coaching in a more affluent community because I realized that those young men as well needed to understand that this is not just everyone’s life, and some kids are experiencing life differently. I need those worlds to collide, so I would always find one of my mentees from an under-resourced community and invite them down to play with me in this more affluent community to expose both worlds to the lives of each, the lessons, the life experiences, etc. 

The most recent one, my godson lost his father to a violent crime. Seeing how my baseball team, his teammates, wrapped their arms around him and showed up at the funeral, sat right behind him, walked out behind that casket, how they worked to make sure he had a college scholarship at the age of 11 and said “hey, you’re not doing life by itself. You now have 12 dads that are going to step up and make sure you cross this finish line of high school.” I think that’s an example of what can happen when we collide worlds and bring them together.