Like many adolescents in foster care, Ladeja Hawkins aged out of the system and ended up homeless in Palm Beach County. Deputy Maldonado met her at the Lewis Center Annex and they became friends right away. Today she considers him like a father, even calls him dad.

Deputy Maldonado has been instrumental in Ladeja’s life. He helped her apply to several jobs and she was eventually hired at McDonald’s. But she still needed transportation.

With a new job in sight, Deputy Maldonado knew Ladeja needed a bicycle so she could have transportation to and from work, work clothes, and shoes. So they went went to get all those but there was one more thing Ladeja felt she needed… She wanted to look presentable and get her hair done. But for that, Deputy Maldonado enlisted the help of Deputy King, who took her to get her hair done and buy hair products.

Ladeja is now ready for her first day at work with the support of Deputy Maldonado and Deputy King. All of us at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office wish her a great start. You can’t help everyone, but everyone of us can help someone.