Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Just in from our AmeriCorps team in Houston. . .

[This report just in from Dr. Keven Vicknair, Director of our AmeriCorps team at CitySquare.  CitySquare directs almost 300 AmeriCorps members who work in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin this summer at children's programs and delivering summer lunches to thousands of low-income kids.  I find this report both amazing and yet, not at all atypical for some of the neighborhoods where we live and work.]

AmeriCorps members are gathered right now, eating lunch and talking about their day with one another.

As I walked through, I heard two members tell a story of their experience putting out door hangers at one of their stops.

The manager had told them not to talk to anyone on site. As the team of two young people made their way through the complex, they came across a group of young men blocking the path and talking about shooting someone the night before.

The team had to make a choice to turn back to go the long way around the property or to casually pass.

They choose to casually pass and the group stopped talking, let them pass, and then resumed their discussion of the person they shot the previous evening.

So... as you go about your day, please know you will at least not have to experience anything like the fear these two 20 years old members did today as they tried to make sure kids have a decent meal for lunch.

Keven

No comments: