- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
StandUp for Kids
Category: Community Service/Non-Profit
Neighborhood: Downtown83 Walton St
Ste B
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 954-6610
- Nearest Transit:
-
Five Points (North-South, Northeast-South, East-West, Proctor Creek)
2 reviews for StandUp for Kids
WE REPEATEDLY FAIL EACH OTHER and I couldn't care less, I won't, I refuse. F*ck the Homeless with their open hands, begging for a handout while I sit 2 hours in traffic everyday, my life sqaundered while the meter runs at $3.00 a gallon.
Others fight to eke out an existence, giving up life for less than minimum wage, begging on a corner for work from bigots because they're not allowed to be in this country. Seeing them battle for work makes it difficult to care about panhandlers who seem to 'want' to live on the street. I do what it takes to not be homeless, why can't they?
Every Wednesday night, nearly without fail, I find myself surrounded by them; kids, teens, and young adults on the verge of never having a better existence than the one they have right now on the streets. The longer they're out there without help, without breaking the cycle of their poverty, the less likely it'll ever change. Most haven't reached the point of begging on the streets. Full of pride they'd rather steal, and even then with this bunch that seems to be a very last resort.
I volunteer at StandUp for Kids and it's always a battle with myself. After 10 hours of work and commute, spending another 5 hours voluteering isn't at the top of my list and I don't want to go. Two hours later, as I stand in the kitchen spooning food and listening to a chorus of melody and syncopated rap rhythms, I see what the other, more caring volunteers see in these kids.
As a group of young black males sit together, rhythmically pounding the table, beat boxing and rapping in circle, it's easy to witness them open up and forget the dire situation in which they live. They're relaxed here, and when their defenses lower you can see something in them that very few others will, their potential to be greater than what they're headed for right now.
StandUp For Kids isn't a right-away feel-good volunteer project for many of us who spend time there. Sure there are the weekly dinners provided by a church group, or corporation, or even restaurant, but for the rest of us, it's a crazy commitment that allows us to see actual change and development in these youth. When TROIS brings food - great food such as excellent breaded teriyaki chicken, it's a welcomed treat and the kids show their appreciation.
Requiring nearly 24 hours of training and background checks before you're even allowed to work with the kids, this isn't for everyone. It probably isn't for me - and I don't think about that too much, pushing those thoughts to the back of my head and pulling better reasons up front. Pulling the good reasons, the sort that they throw up on commercials to pull at your heart and get you to give. I grind my teeth at the cheesy thoughts floating around in my block of a head. This 'doing good' schtick is eating away at my cynicism, erasing the cold bastard I so often claim to be.
It's hard. Every now and then I get tired and I want to stop. It's easy to just stay home and do nothing. No one will come calling, asking me to come and help out. They'll just go on about their business and I'll be a memory. On those nights when I'm tired, and on the very rare occasion when I'm somehow roped into giving a ride home to a pregnant teen about to give birth, my disposition isn't in top form.
But it's hard not to change attitudes when I arrive at her home and witness 10 people in one room, strewn across the floor, sleeping soundly while the walls creak from the cold outside. They're conditions worthy of a 'save the children campaign' and before I can say much of anything, the pregnant teen says thank you and pushes me back into the night, away from seeing anymore than the too much I already have. Hers is a reality completely foreign to me and although we welcome anyone at the center, that doesn't mean the feeling is or should be reciprocated with her home.
So I go, every Wednesday night and I work with the more committed, more experienced and absolutely more caring volunteers, trying to help these kids from a life they didn't sign up for, but are clearly living. It's difficult and progress is rarely noticeable, but there are moments. Glimmers when one person shines and you see that they want something different, and without you, without this group of people, they have much less of a chance out there to be something great, or even something where they don't have to worry about their next meal.
They don't need help surviving. They're already doing that. They need help breaking a cycle of poverty that many of them were born into and don't know how to escape.
People thought this was:
- Useful (28)
- Funny (7)
- Cool (35)
As much as I love to indulge in the sheer enjoyment of eating my way around Atlanta, there is actually another passion in my life that I devote a good deal of time to, as well. Let me introduce you to StandUp for Kids. What does StandUp do? It's summed up best by our Executive Director: "We are more than an organization, we are a movement with a mission to create a culture that will not tolerate our children living on the streets."
StandUp is not your typical nonprofit. For starters, there aren't any paid staff, not even the ED. It's run entirely by volunteers. And not just your average, come out for a day and clean up the park volunteer, either. Nope. If you don the Purple Shirt (our signature color), you are setting yourself apart. It's not all feel-good warm-fuzzies, either. You have to be willing to do some dirty work. Sometimes even some boring work. Clothes have to be sorted. Dishes have to be washed. The trash needs to get hauled to the dumpster.
But at the end of another exhausting night roaming the streets of downtown, or staffing our drop-in center, we purple people look around and know that...hey, we've done some good. Kids that were once on the street are now in apartments. Kids that were kicked out of homes and trying to fend for themselves now have some people to turn to for help.
StandUp for Kids is NOT a religious organization. It is NOT a government agency. We are a group of people willing to do what it takes to help kids have a better, healthier, happier life than what has been thrown their way thus far. And it's my favorite way to spend a Wednesday evening.
People thought this was:
- Useful (8)
- Funny (3)
- Cool (9)
