Back On My Feet. Do something you love!

Charity is something we feel the need to do. It's a good thing. Most of us have been taught to give back so we try to do what we can. When our church has a service day, we fall in line to pick up trash, visit the elderly, buy someone clothes, or paint a room. It is a project. The project lasts an hour...maybe a day...and we have completed a good deed. Service projects have quick results. When large groups come together, things that have been sitting on the back burner get done...quickly.

But I think we need to examine why service days work. Why are people willing to wake up early on a Saturday morning, go out and do the service projects? Is it because they have a deep desire to make a change in a community that isn't their own? Perhaps. However, I believe the stronger power lies in the group of people who are gathering together. People are willing to get up because their friends and family members have also said they would get up and go.

We are human. We know that any serving we do may allow us to get to know some new people, but we also know serving with a large group of people allows us to spend time with friends...friends who, our busy world, we don't get to spend enough time with. Service becomes a win-win situation. Spend time with people we enjoy while helping someone else in the process.

Anne Mahlum has gone a step further in that paradigm though. Anne Mahlum understands that gathering a group of people together has powerful results. But she has approached it a different way:

Anne's relationship with running began when she was 16 as it was her way of dealing with the unexpected situation of her dad's struggle with a gambling addiction, which tore apart her family. While Anne could never find a way to help her dad, she found her own answers in the life lessons that surround running, such as taking things one step at a time and learning the value of being on difficult roads. 10 years later, Anne's running had led her past a homeless shelter on 12th and Vine in Philadelphia where she began to develop a friendly, sarcastic rapport with some of the individuals staying there, who reminded her of her dad. During one morning run she realized that running could benefit them in the same way that it helped her and she felt in some way she could vicariously help her father by helping them. 

Anne found her release through running. She began to heal through running. Anne began to think that maybe that release and healing could be the same for other people as well. Anne founded Back On My Feet.

I attended the Back On My Feet breakfast yesterday and was truly inspired. I know the power of discovering a sport that you truly love. It challenges me mentally, physically, and spiritually. It strengthens my self-confidence as I progress beyond what I ever thought I could. It takes me away from stress, frustration, self-doubt...if only for an hour or two. All people should have the opportunity to know that feeling.

Back On My Feet didn't start as a program. It started long before the organization ever began. Listening to Anne speak, it was obvious that Back On My Feet was never her "service project." She simply was doing something she loved and wanted to invite other people in to join with her in something she had found liberated her.

Maybe we should all look at service differently. Instead of seeing others as our service project, why not figure out what we love to do and invite people to be a part of what we love? Service projects end. Doing something we love doesn't.

Teens donate their shoes

The shoe donation came right after the Haiti earthquake. Terrence’s Teen U kids had been studying about Haiti—looking things up on the internet, having discussions, and seeking to gain an understanding of the tragic event that happened. As the rest of the world, they became very enmeshed in what was happening. Around this time, I received an email from our development department letting me know tennis shoes had been donated for the youth at Roseland. When I let Terrence know, he took the information to the teens and asked them if they wanted to keep the shoes or send them to Haiti. One of the students said they would rather send the shoes to Haiti. All of the students agreed. They then began to seek out places who were coordinating trips to Haiti.

The pictures are of them sorting and packing the shoes. They took it upon themselves to go through the shoes and sort them according to size. In watching them sort the shoes, they seemed to really like the shoes and the different designs. A younger kid came upstairs and said something about wanting a pair of shoes. The other students immediately reprimanded him explaining, “No! These shoes are going to Haiti!”

Their research led them to Prestonwood Baptist church. The shoes have now been taken and, I assume, have already been sent to Haiti. It was a great service project opportunity. It always amazes me how willing the youth are to give and share what they have to help others.

Get out of your suits and come help!

I was unable to attend the Jim Wallis luncheon event last week. But I was told that Brittany, a college student who grew up in the Roseland TownHomes, had some well-spoken, but fairly harsh words for the people in the audience. "You need to get out of your suits and come down here to help. There are kids like me who want to do something and we need your help."

I'm glad Brittany said what she did.

Growing up in Roseland and the inner city, what Brittany understands is that the people who have the most resources, contacts, and connections do not and cannot feel her pain, know her dreams, or celebrate her successes. They can't because they don't know her.

Nearly every day I'm told that in order to get funding, we need "outcomes." Outcomes have always frustrated me. I see large organizations get amazing grant dollars...not because they have created a great program, but because they have learned how to write outcomes down on paper in a concise way that look good. I have listened to organizations tell me that they don't care if the kid stays at their program that day, but they want to make sure and count him/her so they can keep their numbers up for their reports.

Outcomes frustrate me.

As a director, my job often keeps me in the office writing grants, figuring out ways to write down on paper what we do, and writing endless charts about what we're going to measure. Just about the time I think I've got a handle on everything needed, I get a new email asking for more "stuff."

Over the last three weeks I have helped create two new educational programs--a library/bookstore and a Teen University--in the Roseland community...in addition to our already existing After-School Academy. (our Digital Connectors program will be starting soon!)

I am giddy with excitement as I watch Katrina (Roseland Library/Bookstore) teach the kids that visit the library how to greet in sign language. I have watched her gather a small group of kids together as they take turns reading a magazine together. I listened to a parent walk by the library/bookstore and ask Katrina if she would be open that day because she was watching three extra kids for the day and wanted them to have something to do (Katrina said people say stuff like that to her all of the time). I have received excited text messages from Katrina on Saturdays telling me how kids showed up all day to read and participate. And I can't help but be excited when she tells me how kids are scrambling to buy the books she reads to them.

I am in awe of Terrence's (Teen University) ability to draw in the Roseland teenagers. So far he has drawn about 20% of the 12-18 year olds in Roseland (which amounts to about 29 teens). I absolutely love walking upstairs to the Teen University unexpectedly and see Terrence sitting on the couch with a couple of them, helping them do their homework, while a few others are on a different couch looking up words in the dictionary. At the other end of the room there are kids playing Scrabble, and still others inquiring about colleges.

My heart warms as Danielle (After-School Academy) updates me on the daily activities and little progresses of the kids. I've seen some of our biggest challenges walk into the garden and completely transform as they dig dirt, water the garden, and check out the vegetables they've grown. I get excited watching Shawn working with our junior reporters, thinking that they will be writing for Dallas South News soon. I love walking in and seeing all of the kids busy on the computers working away.

The reason I get frustrated with outcomes is not that they don't exist in our programs; it's that "outcomes" cannot be written on a sheet of paper. Our "outcomes" are often not represented by a sharp increase in their reading or math scores. Instead, it's what we see and observe. It's the smile on Fred's face compared to the angry, furrowed brow when he entered the program at the beginning of the summer. It's Kevin talking through stuff instead of getting mad and refusing to talk to anyone. It's seeing the light switch go on in Raymond's head as he figures out how to ask a good open-ended question. Outcomes and improvement is different for each child.

I try to think of the kids in the After-School Academy like I would my own children. My parents let me try things out. They knew that letting me explore baton twirling, Future Business Leaders of America, choir, piano lessons, etc. would lead me to finding myself. I learned to discipline myself to work toward goals with the things I loved. I learned to value playing the piano, but also learned that practicing every day was not how I wanted to spend my time. If I didn't make huge gains, my parents didn't withdraw me. They expected me to do my best.

So, I want to encourage people to come be a part of what we're doing. Come see what the kids are doing. Come garden with them. Come work with them on a designated project. Watch the change for yourself. In Brittany's words, "Get out of your suits and come spend time with us." The outcomes that exist when you least expect it and are so much better than what's on paper.