In our coalition work throughout the area we met an awesome lady who is the head librarian in the town of Zeigler. This small town, has its nice modern library located on the "Circle" downtown. Every day the head librarian Peggy Carpenter looked out the library window and saw the bus dropping off kids after school. But the kids didn't walk home. Instead they just hung out on the square, unsupervised. They would spend hours doing nothing, except occassionally getting in trouble.
Peggy decided that it would be safer for the kids if she could get them to come inside the library. So she bought snacks and offered the small handful of students help with their homework and use of the library's computers to do research on. Within months, word spread among the kids that the library was the place to be after school. Soon she had over 20 students of all ages in the small building five days a week. It wasn't the library that interested them. They found a mother figure in Peggy.
Without professional training or any funding, Peggy shepherds dozens of kids, offering advice, support, and even a shoulder to cry on. She has become a spokesperson for the issues these kids face. She sees the isolation and the pain some of these kids carry. She also sees the potential and promise that is waiting to be tapped in this generation. And although she wishes more people would take an interest and step in to help, she knows that for this time and place, she is in unique place to build assets in these kids. At the end of a long day, she knows that she truly has made a difference.
Is there a unique opportunity presenting itself to you? Maybe you are not called to run an entire after-school program at your place of business. But maybe there is a single mom living in your apartment building who could use a hand with her kids. Maybe there is a small group of young guys hanging out in your neighborhood that need a male role model. Perhaps there is a lonely child in your neighborhood who needs a smile or a ride to church youth group once in a while.