Delorean Andrews knows the tie score
“If you look good, you feel good”
Minutes before the service began at Greater Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church of Miami one Sunday morning around 1996, usher Earl Jones approached junior usher Delorean Andrews in the vestibule about the clip-on tie he was sporting.
“He said, ‘You can’t wear a clipon at age 12,’ and he showed me how to tie a tie,” remembered Andrews.
Twenty years and many Windsor knots later, Andrews has grown to be a successful aircraft electrician at Boeing Co. in Ridley Township and is on his way to earning a business degree at Widener University in Chester. But one of his proudest achievements is founding Release the Brakes, a community outreach organization through which he has volunteered his services as a motivational speaker and fitness instructor for at-risk youth, and distributed food, sneakers and toys to the homeless.
He has also perpetuated the sartorial insight imbued upon him by “Mr. Earl”. Since Andrews founded Release the Brakes in 2014, he has taught more than 600 males ages 7 through 21 how to tie neckties at workshops in community centers, churches, schools and universities.
“It’s very symbolic. I’ve had a lot of young men who never tied a tie and the looks on their faces when they have are ones of accomplishment,” said the 32-yearold Claymont, Del., resident. “It improves their confidence that they achieved something and they look good.”
Many of the ties, which his students are permitted to keep after they master tying them, are donated and, sometimes, a bit worn around the edges. He would like to enter into a partnership with a men’s suit and tie shop that might donate new ties or offer them at a discount.
His most recent workshop was at a May 14 summit staged for youth in the tri-state area at the Boys & Girls Club of Chester. Nearly 50 participants in two sessions learned not only how to tie a tie, but at which occasions it is appropriate to wear one including job interviews, church, weddings, proms and graduations.
“As the old saying goes, ‘If you feel good, you look good. If you look good, you feel good’,” said Andrews.
Janet Riley-Ford, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Chester, noted that the workshop was designed for young men, ages 12 through 22, but was also attended by several young women including mothers, sisters and girlfriends of the participants.
“I’ll admit I wasn’t sure what to expect when Delorean presented the idea of a tie-tying workshop. However, Delorean’s ability to combine tie-tying and professional dress in order to succeed and unlock one’s potential, was amazing,” she said.
Andrews has also done workshops and speaking engagements in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Although Andrews has a website – www.releasethebrakes.org – most of his gigs, which he does for free, are booked through word of mouth. Some he does after working his shift at Boeing. Most he does on the weekends.
Kim Davis, head pastor of Ebenezer Full Gospel Church of Downington, Chester County, where Andrews was a former member, gave him his first opportunity to speak when he addressed the congregation during a workshop about achieving goals. In 2014 he addressed teenagers in the Upward Bound program at Lincoln University in Chester County and, in 2015, inmates at Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center in Middletown.
“My organization’s focus is on teaching men of African-American culture – but any young men are welcome – how to carry themselves, and teaching young men to do the right thing and teaching young men to dress for success,” said Andrews.
He talks to them about handling such life situations as bullying and how to cope in a fatherless home, without a mentor.
“I can relate what a young man is going through, not having a father in his life, because I didn’t have a father in my life,” said Andrews. He did, however, have a mentor. “I got to give it up to my grandmother. She instilled in me my values and morals,” said Andrews.
The oldest of five children, he was raised by his grandmother, Annette Andrews, in the Liberty City section of Miami, Fla. A former medical billing clerk at a Miami hospital, she is now 68, retired and living in Philadelphia. She took Andrews on trips and made sure he had experiences beyond the city and state where he lived, he noted.
“She always inspired me to make the right decision and not to run the streets of Miami,” said Andrews. “Miami is a very tough place to live as far as violence in the community.”
Parts of Chester, he noted, remind him of his old Miami neighborhood where he was used to hearing gunfire, sirens and helicopters flying overhead. Chester has the highest homicide rate in
Delaware County, most as a result of shootings. Andrews was particularly saddened by the May 21 death of 14-year-old Zenas Powell after he was caught in a crossfire of bullets as he left a neighborhood store in Chester’s West End with his 16-year-old cousin who was critically injured.
“In Miami you see a lot of everything. You see drug-users, you see a lot of crime,” said Andrews. “It’s not uncommon to walk home from school and see an area roped-off and a body covered on the ground.”
Andrews lived in Chester for about three months after he left Florida in September 2006, then relocated to Ridley Township where he resided for about nine years before moving to Claymont in January. He lives there with his Cavapoo – a cross between a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and poodle – named Chance, “as in everybody deserves a chance,” noted Andrews.
The name of his outreach organization, Release the Brakes, is also consistent with his philosophy. Andrews said he came up with the name based on his observation that many people do not achieve success because of the barriers they create for themselves.
“I want them to tear down the barriers in their lives and release the brakes — tear down the barriers that stop them from achieving success. It’s just like a car. A car won’t move at all if you don’t release the brakes,” said Andrews.
He encourages the young people with whom he talks to develop plans for their lives.
“A lot of kids don’t have goals. When you ask them what they want to be doing in five years, some don’t know what they’re doing tomorrow, so I tell them they have to set up a plan and not be victims of their circumstances,” said Andrews.
He noted that his grandmother gave him the “tools” that he needed, but he had to come up with his own plan.
“I always had the spirit of an entrepreneur,” said Andrews, who is a graduate of Miami Jackson High School in Florida and the Diversity Apprenticeship Program in Philadelphia.
When he was in grade school he drew pictures from the Disney movie, “Lion King”, and sold them for a dollar each. At age 15 he started learning about the stock market.
“I started learning how to create a source of income. I would save money and sell lemonade and did a lot of things to make money to be able to get the things I liked,” said Andrews.
He also wants to physically be a positive male role model for many boys who don’t have one. In addition to dressing well, Andrews works out three times a week to maintain his 5-foot-11-inch, 200-pound frame. He has claimed second place for bench-pressing 400 pounds at Monster Bench, an annual bench press competition in Cooperstown, N.Y.
“I believe that when young men look at me they see what they could be like. You don’t have to wear pants below your waist to be cool and for people to respect you. You don’t have to dress like a rapper. You can dress like someone you respect and still be cool,” said Andrews.
He doesn’t restrict his altruistic efforts to boys and young men. In 2014, at the request of members of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Andrews did a fitness workshop at the Boys & Girls Club of Chester for young men and women preparing for their coming-of-age “Beautillion,” a formal dance at The Waterfall in Claymont where the gents wear tuxedoes and the ladies wear white gowns.
Last October Andrews delivered food and 72 pairs of sneakers he purchased to homeless men and women in Philadelphia. Last Christmas Eve he purchased and delivered toys to Mary Mother of Hope House No. 3, a shelter for homeless women and children in Wilmington, Del.
Andrews recently endowed a $500 scholarship he has dubbed, the Release Scholarship, to be administered to a high school senior next year through the Chester NAACP. He was inspired to endow the scholarship when he attended the Chester NAACP annual awards banquet last month.
“I saw the impact scholarships had on a lot of deserving kids. A lot of kids come from broken homes in Chester. This made me realize it goes a long way. This is an opportunity to achieve the next level of education,” said Andrews.
He has specified it to be for a high school senior who has shown great improvement in his or her grades.
“I know straight-A students get pretty much everything and I wanted to give it to a student who has gone from a C to a B, who worked hard for that,” said Andrews. “I know because I was one of those students.”
Andrews personally finances most of his altruistic efforts but raises some funds by selling Tshirts for Release the Brakes which he is currently working to qualify as a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt nonprofit organization. Since a lot of his efforts are focused on males, he would like to affiliate with a similar organization that is focused on helping primarily females.
“I want to help as many people as I can, but I’m only one man. I want to get them to ‘release the brakes,’” said Andrews. “I want to let people know, someone is there to help them.”
On the personal side, Andrews admits he wouldn’t mind some day owning a DeLorean, the sleek stainless steel sports car that inspired his first name, made famous in the “Back to the Future” movies starring Michael J. Fox.
In the meantime, he is content with looking his best and inspiring others to do so.
“When a man wears a suit he feels like a million dollars. It makes him feel like somebody,” said Andrews.
Thanks to an usher at his childhood church, he learned early on that a good place to start is with a tie.
“Unfortunately Mr. Earl died a few years ago,” said Andrews. “I can’t call and thank him.”