Yesterday was the last day of an arts program I founded a year and a half ago at a residential treatment facility for teenage boys in a small town, literally in the middle of no where. These are kids that people didn’t deserve to have and after a lifetime of neglect, abuse and falling through the cracks of the system society wonders why they get in trouble. This facility has anywhere from a few to 18 months to undo the damage of what these boys’ so called families’ have done.
The program grew from 2 hours a week with 6 boys to two days a week with 19–one day with the kids and another preparing, fundraising, scheduling field trips and communityactivities, etc. to show the better side of life and why its worth the hard work they are asked to do in therapy and school and that they are worthy of the best life has to offer.
If you read the papers you know there’s not much money for programs like mine: You Gotta Have HeART. As a matter of fact I’ve been volunteering the past month while waiting for the parent organization to decide if they are going to pay for the program, I gave them 6 weeks notice and the boys 2 weeks notice so as not to be another one who abandons them. (I’m still going to attend their program graduations and there are a couple of kids I’m working with on connecting with art schools) but yesterday was the official last day with the understanding that if they can find funding (approx. $16,000/year as is but we really need to accommodate the bigger group so ideally$32,000) I’ll be back.
I cleaned out the office, gave out new sketch books, pencils, graphite sticks, crayons and colored pencils, accepted a beautiful plaque, card and two very touching personal letters and drove off, HeART broken.
