Since 2002 Greg Dillon has quietly made a difference in the lives of eight young men at Notre Dame High School in West Haven through his work with Shepherds. A 1974 graduate of Notre Dame, a former police officer and supervisor of a Gang Unit, Greg had seen young men flourish and fail in greatly different circumstances. He witnessed what could happen as teenaged boys struggled to find their way in life and how poor decisions could set them on a path of underachievement. Unsure how he could help to stop the cycle, he noticed, clipped and put aside advertisements about Shepherds before he finally took the plunge and called to volunteer his time as a mentor.
The rest is history. Now mentoring Jared, his eighth Shepherds student at Notre Dame, Greg has seen first hand the impact that the program can make on young men and their families. Last spring, Kyle and Kobe (Greg’s 6th & 7th students) graduated and are off to college – Kyle at the University of New Haven and Kobe at Southern Connecticut State University. Says Greg, who still keeps in touch with all of the young men he has mentored – Xavier, Dimitri, Shawndel, Anthony and Karim, “There is tremendous satisfaction in seeing a boy enter NDHS, full of doubt and indecision, maybe lacking confidence or unsure of their goals, and leaving NDHS as a mature, poised young man, brimming with potential, with a plan and a bright future.”