You're 8 years old. You're given a $100 bill and told you get to spend it on anything you want in Walmart. What do you get?
We had the privilege of getting invited by a Cops and Kids initiative where a cop walks around the store with a kid or two and helps them picks out presents for themselves. $100 (including tax) was their budget. We arrived in the Walmart parking lot, the kids got their names checked in, they were given a juice box and a snack, and waited in line as patiently as they could to be escorted by a cop to pick out gifts. In my group, I went with an officer and three of our After School Program students. Jon, a 5th grader whose football team made it to the championship tournament in all of Florida, went straight for the football gear (an arm sleeve, mouth guard) and some nice new headphones. Philipp went for some nerf toys. Victor, a 3rd grade boy, had a difficult time thinking of what he wanted. Jon and Philipp had almost already maxed out their $100 before Victor got picked anything.
Me: What kinds of things do you like?
Victor: I want to get a gift for my mom?
Me: That's nice of you. What do you think she might like?
Victor: A pancake maker.............and a candle.
Philipp: Oooh, I'm gonna get a candle for my mom too!
I see this a lot in this neighborhood. When given an abundant supply of fill-in-the-blank, generosity is almost second nature. It was very touching to witness, and he did find that pancake maker and a lavender-scented candle. Naomi, our 5th grader, took the longest time because she used that $100 to do her Christmas shopping for her mom, dad, sister, and two brothers.
This is the first time we've taken a field trip to a store to have the kids pick out toys. It was encouraging to me to see a few of the kids in the beginning of the shopping a little tense being walked around by a stranger, let alone a cop. Philipp's first words when we started were, "I don't really like cops, they're scary." I've gained a lot of empathy for this response over the years and hope and pray the kids are given the right wisdom and instruction on how to behave around cops while being black. I pray they understand their rights, they understand the fear that cops may have just because of the way they look and also the power that few may use to keep them down. I grew up seeing cops as all nice people that will hand you baseball cards if asked. I understand that my experience is very different than others here, and I definitely have no right to tell them that their experiences, history, or defense mechanism is wrong, or less than.
Another cool partnership we've had over the years has been with Zaxby's (a chicken restaurant for the non-southern readers). They've given us laptops in the past and this year they hooked us up with basketballs and kickballs (pictured below).
We had another Action Day in December and it was unusually warm (yes, I know Florida is normally warmer in the wintertime than other places, but this year it's warmer than normal). If you have any experience with gardening and enjoy it a lot, you get to plant things all year round. The types of things you plant will vary, but there are things that can grow in Florida in the wintertime including onions, kale, collard greens, and many types of herbs. We had about 20-25 people come out to help weed, plant, and clean. We are hoping to do more neighborhood events in the future to encourage the neighbors to use, enjoy, plant, meditate and know that they own this garden, they can come enjoy it as their greenspace. Studies show that well kept green spaces have a positive effect on mental health and have a ripple effect of less crime near these places. Pray we receive this grant we applied for that will allow us to build new garden beds (ours are rotting after many years of use) and make it look even more appealing to passersby.
For those wondering, our big ask for $30,000 to help towards purchasing a new van is at around $26,000. Thank you for those who have donated! God is faithful!
