MUNCIE — Memories of earning extra cash by pushing a broom across dusty convenience store floors or a lawnmower over uncut grass are poignant still.
Ball State sophomore Francis Kiapway learned at a young age the value of a dollar, and he learned it tough. Until he was about 10 years old, his family of six lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Parkdale, then a low-income city on the west side of Toronto, Ontario.
Life was tough there, money was scarce. He saw friend after friend killed. The last straw was the death of an uncle, who Kiapway remembers selling drugs at the time.