Around the Stand Up for Kids Center

Hey Everyone!!

Its been awhile since we've blogged and A LOT has happened. I'm just going to talk about a few things that we've done around the center with the kids. January 19th was the second day of intense rain here in San Diego. They don't get storms much so it affects a lot of people when they do get rain. We had felt bad seeing the kids come in the night before. Most of them were wet from the rain and didn't know where they were going to go after they left. A few of them were going to St. Vincent De Paul's, the biggest homeless center in San Diego. They open their cafeteria for people to sleep on the floor when it rains or storms. But on the 19th we had the opportunity to have a "Movie Day" with the kids. This meant that we opened the center up at 2 or 3 PM (I don't remember exactly) and invited all the kids to come hang out and watch a movie. We rented The Hangover, made nachos, popcorn, and had a blast! About ten kids showed up and we all sat around like normal teenagers. It was especially good because it was raining when they came so they had some time inside during the day. Our group was happy to watch the Hangover because we had been calling Doug, "Dougie Doug," from the hangover. He got to hear his song and I think he liked the movie too.

The next night we had a talent show at the center. It was awesome!! We saw lots of exciting talent from members of the trip and kids at the center. It was slow in the beginning and lots of the kids seemed nervous and hesitant to step up. Our first act was Brian playing guitar and Becca singing. They performed "Imagine" by John Lennon, and they rocked!! We also heard Kirstin rap some of her own lyrics. She is very inspiring. A lot of the kids rapped Insane Clown Posse lyrics which are extremely dark and morbid. They were still very talented though. Also, one of the kids rapped his own lyrics for us. It was an interesting contrast between what DePauw did and the kids did. Their lives are obviously different than ours.

My final topic about things going on around the Center was a group conversation held on Thursday night. The center brings in a facilitator to lead group discussion once a week. He is extremely inspirational and has a way of making the kids open up. It was an interesting conversation that took place on Thursday night. The facilitator was extremely interested in getting one of the younger kids to open up at the center. The kid expressed an urge to change his future actions and to hopefully get himself out of the trouble that he seems to always find himself in. Surprisingly, the older kids who usually seem to hang out with him came down on him pretty hard. They strongly suggested that he change his ways and expressed the jealousy they feel towards him because he still has the opportunity to get his high school diploma and get off the street. It was interesting to witness and for me it was very hopeful to see that the older kids are not only starting to see that their actions have consequences but that they also want to help the younger kids. It also led to a very deep reflection within our group after the center closed for the evening.

Its been an eye opening experience so far and I can't believe that three weeks are almost up!! More to come soon -

Kristy