DPS Trooper Spearheads Viral Outreach to San Angelo Youth With a Movie

Early Saturday morning, Oct. 17, Sergeant Carlos Diaz got in his Texas DPS Tahoe and began heading toward El Paso for the weekend. The DPS recruiter travels fairly frequently to meet with applicants, process paperwork, administer tests and speak to youth at various high schools, and was on another such work-related trip when he pulled off for minute to get gas. What he saw on that pit stop stuck in his mind for the remainder of the weekend, and would ultimately inspire a massive project targeting the youth of San Angelo and the surrounding areas.

“I had stopped to get fuel, and I was taking a break, and that’s when I looked up the trailer of the movie,” Diaz recalled, pulling up a video trailer of the movie “Woodlawn” with the gospel song “This Little Light of Mine” playing in the background on his phone. “[That song and trailer] stayed with me through the weekend till Monday, when I started working on making it happen. It just inspired me to the point that I wanted to share it.”

As a recruiter for the Texas Department of Public Safety, Diaz is in frequent contact with youth and college-aged students who want to become a state trooper. The DPS, however, has stringent guidelines, and many of the younger applicants have been having difficulty making it through the competitive hiring process, primarily because of moral failures during their early adult years. For that reason, Diaz has been making a concerted effort to speak to younger teens who are not yet eligible and encourage them to follow paths that will not inhibit them from seeking employment with the department at age 21.

“A high number of the college kids coming to me right now are having integrity issues: They’re not passing the polygraph,” Sgt. Diaz said. “Besides not passing, even if they pass, the things that they’re doing between the age of 18 and being old enough to join is us just unbelievable, from stealing to doing drugs to other stuff that is—the totality—keeping them from becoming one of us.”

With the tune of the trailer still stuck in his head, the Sergeant realized that the movie “Woodlawn” might provide an opportunity to share a positive message with area students, given the film’s emphasis on acceptance, integrity and moral fortitude. Immediately after returning from El Paso, on Monday, he set forth to invite all area students to see the movie for free.

On Monday, Oct. 18, Diaz approached the manager at San Angelo's Cinemark Tinseltown with an idea to purchase tickets for anyone who wanted to attend the theater on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. He and the manager quickly worked out a group rate, and Diaz began approaching various clubs and organizations to determine how to obtain funding and ticket dissemination.

He found the local Men of Courage, a non-denominational religious organization of men who strive to help boys grow up to be better men, husbands and fathers. That meeting took place on Tuesday, and by the end of the hour, Diaz had accrued a downpayment of $140 toward his goal.

“The Men of Courage decided that they were going to have a special meeting two days later, on Thursday [and] that they would share it with [the rest of] their group,” Diaz said. “Although I walked out with $140, they still knew that I was going to need more…”

By the Thursday evening meeting, members of the Men of Courage had already decided to rent out one of the entire 300-seat screen rooms and discussed how much in total they could commit. Ultimately, the men committed an additional $1,500 to rent out another 200-seat screen room for overflow, if necessary. At that point, however, Diaz was still looking for additional sponsors to take on a portion of the financial burden, and on Friday, the sergeant met with Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council of the Concho Valley Prevention (ADACCV) Director Paulette Schell.

“We’re always looking for ways to engage with the community and to ultimately relay a drug-free message, but also to help infuse lessons of integrity and civic responsibility and that type of thing into anything that we get involved in,” Schell said. “When Sgt. Diaz just walked in our office, he showed us the trailer for the movie and you could just tell how passionate he was.”

Schell said she was impressed at how much legwork Diaz had done, from talking to the theater to spreading the word among youth whom he knows. Given the positive community response the project had already garnered, Schell said the decision to participate was a no-brainer and quickly got on board.

“What we decided was that we would fund up to $3,250,” Schell said. Ironically, those funds were initially earmarked for advertising at Tinseltown prior to films, but ultimately, Schell said, it’s about what the community wants.

Concho Valley CARES, a grant-funded organization run by ADACCV, has a budget that is dedicated to funding programs promoting community involvement and drug-free youth that must be expended annually. The funds for the theater trip will come from that budget, the largest project of its kind the organization has ever undertaken. Should more students show up at the theater on Oct. 28 than the 500 seats can accommodate, the Men of Courage have vowed to schedule a second showing paid for on their own dime to ensure that everyone who wants to see the film is able to.

“There’s several different messages,” said Casey Alexander, a member of the Men of Courage. “You can take a lot out. It inspires….people to follow Jesus for one, but inspires you to just be a better person, strive for excellence and not let people get you down.”

Alexander said he believes the story is particularly relatable to students, as it is based on a true story centering on a high school football team and the first black player during a racially charged time period.

“We’re going to end up filling up the theater on Wednesday,” Diaz said confidently. Students need not bring anything to attend; those interested in seeing the film can merely show up on Wednesday evening before the film starts at 7 p.m. and obtain their ticket. At the present, Diaz and House of Faith are trying to work out bussing for those who do not have transportation to or from the theater; however, those plans have not yet been finalized.

Word of the free showing is spreading via word-of-mouth, and all are invited to attend.

“I’m doing what I’m doing ultimately for the kids,” Diaz said. “If we reach out and make a difference in one or two, it’s better than none, right?”