Boys & Girls Club, is it necessary?

My personal quote is, “What’s Your Purpose?” How I came to that I will explain in a few minutes (and give in greater detail in another entry). What I’m about to say will put me on the spot (challenge me more than anything). For about a year I have plotted the idea of a “Youth & Parent Development Center.”

Actually, I had the thought for about ten years to do something for the children, whether it be a recreation center or some sort of club and after the last year of really just “thinking” and not doing I came across the book by Denzel Washington: A Hand to Guide Me. That book helped me regain momentum and focus on why I wanted to start this center in the first place.

I didn’t have a Boys Club growing up. And now reflecting on that, I wish I did. I think a club of that nature would have helped me growing up and maybe even sway some of my bad decisions. But I didn’t have that, and I won’t cry over spilt milk. However, the situation remains the same. There are still no clubs in my area for the youth of today. Though, there are the streets. There are the drugs. The same activities I was exposed to as a teenager.

Are these the activities that we want our children of today to be exposed to? Why now, you may ask? Well, don’t you think it’s about time? The world today is in a serious state of hurt. Our children have (in my part of CT that is) really no place to go, but the streets to run off steam, at least with no cost. There are but a few role-models and fathers involved in the lives of our children. So, there is no guidance, no leadership, and no sense of self worth or motivation to do good.

I see all too often that the grandparents are raising the children with the mother. Where are the fathers? Where are the role models, the mentors? If you do exist please, come forward and let me know. I would like to shake your hand. Please, by no means am I here talking down on anyone. Everyone has their own story.

All too often I here, “Well, it’s not my problem.” Or, “That child is not mine, why should I raise it?” Then, who will? You may be right. It may not be your child, but doesn’t that child still deserve a man or mentor in his or her life to grow, to learn from. That child did not ask to be born, but it was born. So now what? What do we do? Just continue with our own lives and push that child to the side with no guidance or mentoring.

I know we all have our own problems, believe me, I have my share. But I can not stand here and let another child grow up the way I did. It’s not right; it’s not fair, to that child or society. Yes, I said “it’s not right to society.” Believe it or not, we are all affected by this common problem across the world (I’ll make this a topic of another entry), especially “society.”

So now what, where do we go from here? I am open to ideas. Feel free to contact me via e-mail (click on view my complete profile, then click e-mail where it says contact) or post a comment and let me know what you think may help or if you just want to comment. I believe one of the first steps is to stop pointing fingers and find solutions. We won’t find solutions if we are too busy pointing fingers and placing blame. A lot of times the fathers and mothers don’t get along for whatever reasons and hold grudges and the children are affected. Let’s stop this nonsense, we are only hurting the children (this will be another topic posted at another time, the children is what I want focused on for now). The boy scouts was really never my cup of tea. But we could use some sort of brotherhood like environment for the boys and girls to bond. I have a few ideas for children’s groups or clubs that I’m working on as we speak.

The center I spoke of earlier to me is the most important thing in my opinion for now to work on. I am in early stages of creating the center and would like all the support I can get. Not only is it going to be a recreation center but a development center too. As a proud parent myself, I understand that I don’t always have the answers so their will be something for the parents as well.

If any of you out there reading this is a single parent, a grandparent helping to raise a child, a father that understands, or a man or woman that would like to help. Anybody, please, send me your support in anyway possible; whether it is through funding, advice, direction, and/or encouragement. Like I said earlier, I welcome all.

For anybody out there that may feel that I am not “qualified” or that I shouldn’t be the one to do this. Who will then, you? If so, please do so, if you are better qualified I would be glad to get out of your way as long as it gets done and the children no longer are “without.”

I think at times we all wander through parts of our life and wonder what are we going to do or what direction to take. Sometimes we all need to sit back and reflect on what is important to us in life and how do we get there. “What’s Your Purpose?” Well, I ask everybody to ask themselves that question. I think I may have found mine.