About Me
The Kitchen Table is a home based, home grown mentoring program that I started up at my house, in the kitchen, at the table, hence therefore the name, The Kitchen Table.What I do, is have teenagers, ages 13 and up, come over to the house every Thursday night from 8-10pm,(most of the time they stay until about 11pm),(they seem to never be in a hurry to get home, and I'm never in a hurry to send them home)and we talk about life and things that are affecting them at their young ages.We talk about everything from how to exercise the mind, to sex, drugs, alcohol, gangs, gang violence, love, parenting, being successful, God, school and etc... just whatever is on their mind at that time. Also I try to have guess speakers to come in for about 15-20 mins and talk to them, after that we take a break and eat. I try to have something there for them to drink and snack on. It's not much, because I'm just one person, but others are starting to help, which is becoming a huge blessing.The Kitchen Table has been going on now since March of this year and I started it with just 3 or 4 kids, now I have over 100 kids, and I average about 25-30 kids every Thursday night.I believe that not only do the kids enjoy coming over, but that they are also benefiting from coming to my program, because here they receive love, structure, order, discipline, positive reinforcement, encouragement, motivation, a new way to think, and a new way to attack old and new problems. They began to think. They become eager and energetic, ambitious, they become inspired, they began to dream and dare themselves to reach for success. They began to believe in themselves and develop that "can do" attitude!! They take on a whole new attitude when they began to walk through them doors and I believe in them, I refuse to give up hope!The kids that I deal with are the type of kids that most people will not deal with or either they find themselves to busy to take time out for the kids, and ironically these are our kids that we neglect;However they turn around and say that our kids are lost; I say that we do not take the time to find them, because in finding them, that would take time and effort, two things that most adults tend to not give our children these days, time and effort.Then they say, our kids are ignorant and incapable of learning; I say that we are inadequate teachers, who are incapable of teaching outside of a written script.Then they say, that our kids are bad and classify them as at risk youth, I say that it is us who put the youth "at risk"...And through my unofficial years of working with kids, I have learned that there are no such thing as "bad kids", just "good parents" and "good kids" who sometimes make bad decisions.God has told me on several occasions that I am not a father, but I have many children. So I say to each and every person who takes the time to read this, that these are my kids, and I Love Each and Everyone of Them.And although I have yet to figure out what it is that I should be doing, I do know that I could not in good faith, sit back and do "nothing", I know... that I had to do something. I am not sure what to do just yet, but I cannot legally stand by and watch as our kids try to find their way through a maze that we as adults have yet to get through.With that said, I pose a question to each and every last one of you who has taken time to read this...If not I, then me
If not me, then you
If not you, then who...?
