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AJ Jacques: A Positive Example of a Second Chance

After growing up in a bad neighborhood and making mistakes along the way, AJ Jacques is serving the community in many ways, and wants to show others that they can have a second chance as well.

AJ grew up in New Haven on Eastern Street, where he says kids had to be 12 or 13 years old to go outside without a parent.

“As a kid you see a lot,” AJ says, “You’re subjected to a lot of things that children should not see” such as drugs, prostitution, and simply “getting bullied, beat up.”

AJ says he was forced to be a certain way to fit in. He says he used to hang out with the “hard crowd,” and that was the person you had to be.

“Nobody wants to be alone as a kid,” AJ says.

The big problem AJ had when he was younger was his drinking, saying that he and the people around him at the time would drink all day, and that’s all they did. He had trouble with the law, which included a police record after being arrested  and charged with robbery for taking a Nintendo video game console from someone’s home.

The turning point for AJ was when he found out he was going to have his son Matthew, and that Matthew was going to be born with a heart defect.

“I just stopped everything,” AJ says, “Stopped hanging out after work, stopped drinking beers, just stopped.”

Unfortunately, Matthew passed away in September 2013 at age six due to complications after a heart transplant. AJ and his wife started a nonprofit organization called The Matthew Jacques Mission, with the goal being to help critically ill children through gifts and donations.

For the past four years, the organization has been holding an annual plush toy drive, and received 477 stuffed animal donations this year. The stuffed animals are delivered to the Yale Child Life Center for the holidays.

“Plus it’s good for something...The kids, they can hold it when they cough, like they gave our son,” AJ says, “Yale, they treated us good, and that’s why we started this.”

Recently, AJ says the organization donated to a family whose child had a similar defect as his son. He gave a LEGO firetruck to the child, as well as some other things, and a $1,000 donation to help the family. He says he’s paying it forward because the North Haven community was phenomenal and his family received a ton of support for his son Matthew, particularly through the 2013 Spring Brawl football game that raised $9,000 for him.

AJ says he will continue to pay it forward.

In addition to the nonprofit, AJ works with the American Red Cross, and has numerous certificates and certifications from them, including CPR, advanced first aid, 19 FEMA certifications. He is an on-call disaster action team supervisor.

He is also a member of the Hamden Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and is a member of the Montowese Fire Department Association.

“Volunteering is what I love to do,” AJ says, “I always have.”

Currently working for a cleaning company, AJ says the thing that hinders him the most right now is his criminal record, which he is trying to get expunged. He said he wants to become a volunteer firefighter, but he can’t get a Firefighter 1 certification until his record is clear.

“I want to just move on with my life,” AJ says, “I came a long way. People that knew me then that know me know, I mean, they’re proud.”

AJ says that he will be 11 years sober in August, and has been out of trouble and crime free since 2003. He was denied a hearing on expungement last year, but is getting ready to send in an application to the Board of Pardons again this year, and says he has many people backing him.

He says it makes him scared and nervous when applying for jobs or volunteer work, saying he’s afraid they’ll say “No” to him because of his record. He says he wants to join the Fire Department and get a better job not only for himself, but in honor of his son as well. He also doesn’t want other people in a similar situation feeling the way he does.

“Just because you make a mistake doesn’t make you a bad person,” AJ says.

AJ says that while it’s hard to change, and that it’s easy to give up, he doesn’t want people in a similar situation to give up. However, he says it feels great that he’s been able to turn things around.

“That’s all I do, that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” AJ says, “I love helping people.”