See How They Grow
Teenagers.
Does the phrase raise the hair on your neck? Unpleasant memories? Current fears?
My husband and I have been working with the youth group at our church for the last couple of years—actually, with another parishioner, we started the group because, being a small church, there wasn’t one. Sunday School stopped after the 6th grade and we realized that a lot of the teens in the church were drifting away at a time when they probably needed an entity that could love and support them most. So we started Teens @ Grace, or T@G. None of us had any background in youth ministries. In fact, I would say all of us would be the last pick for such a venture. But we knew that the kids in our community needed something. There is no place in our town of Radford other than the library that is appropriate for teens to hang out and do the socializing that is so necessary to their social development. Okay—that sounds really antiseptic—but where can a teen go to be with other teens that is safe?
We started a teen club that would meet once a month called Club 210 (the address was 210 4th Street). High school garage bands could play there and we accepted a donation for a different charity each month. We converted the basement of the church to look as much like a club as we could; lights, stage, biggums speakers. . . When we could get the bands, it was a great evening and successful. Sadly, our lives have become busier and we can’t maintain the club as we did. I wish we could have the club going every week on a Friday night. Imagine if someone decided that for a business? Or how about the equivalent for a Chuckie Cheese for teens? In areas that have Books-A-Millions, and Barnes and Nobles, I hear the teens hang out there. Malls become a gathering place, but because of that many have curfews for anyone 18 and under without a parent have been imposed. One of my freshmen college students was kicked out of a Roanoke mall recently because she was 18 and with friends.
Does your community have a safe and appropriate place for teens to socialize? Wouldn’t an investment like that symbolize an investment of the community’s future?
We were able to arrange a rebuilding mission trip to New Orleans last year, and are planning another trip this summer. For the past three years the T@G kids have collected toys for a local Christmas toy charity, and they’ve done other helpful work in the community. I’ve watched some progress from sullen, seemingly apathetic bystanders to a step-in-and-take-charge helper. I saw perspectives change before my eyes when we entered New Orleans and they realized how truly blessed they were. I saw the light of understanding turn on when one fifteen year old heard a single mother tell of life for her and her three teenage children in a small FEMA trailer. These evolutions are stunningly beautiful to me, and I’m quite proud to have played a part. It’s one of the reasons I came back home to a smaller area—to be able to engage in something bigger than myself.
So I highly recommend engaging with the children in your community in some way. There’s no better investment. After all, they ARE the future.
-Lucinda McDermott Piro