Jack Mook is a Pittsburg police detective and Army veteran. He met Jessee, 11, and Joshua, 15, at the Steel City Boxing gym, a nonprofit organization where kids receive mentoring when Joshua was about 9 years old. He formed a special bond with the boys after becoming Joshua's trainer. When he stopped showing up for daily workouts, Jack went looking for him. His discovery sent him on a path he never thought he wanted. The brothers grew up in extreme poverty. They were moved from their parents home to foster care with relatives. They slept on the floor surrounded by dog feces. Without toothbrushes, they both had rotting teeth. They were flea bitten and filthy. Jack has seen a lot in his years with the police department, but the boys circumstances was the worst he had ever seen. After watching Joshua's steady stream of tears as he told him "I'm trying to sleep my life away. I go to sleep as early as possible so I can sleep until I have to go back to school."  Jack said to him "You keep hanging in there. Protect Jessee and let me work on some things." He walked away from the boys distraught that day, contacted city officials and informed them that he wanted to care for them. He first became their foster parent and then on September 16 of this year, the lifelong bachelor did the best thing of his life and became a family man by adopting the brothers. "I thought, they're just special kids. They deserve to have help." It means everything" he said "I got two kids off the streets. It's awesome." Jack believes that if the boys remained living in the conditions they were in, they would have most likely become criminals. "I've worked the streets for 22 years, and without structure and discipline, they'd be put in juvenile detention and probably jails later on". Jack says that although parenting is the toughest job he's ever done, it is the most rewarding one. "It's the most stressful thing I ever did, but when they smile, it releases the stress." Although the boys still call him 'coach', they know he is now officially their dad too. "Most of all" says Joshua, "he's a saviour. he's my role model."   photo courtesy of modomatic/flickr