Saturday, December 7, 2013

Social Justice Event_ Turkey at the Boys and Girls Club

 
The day before Thanksgiving at the Boys and Girls club, we gave out Turkeys, canned goods, and other things that typically goes along with a Thanksgiving dinner. Upon arriving to my site, I did not know that we were going to passing out Turkeys, but when I asked, the said that they do it every year and that Stop and Shop donates about 100 Turkeys to be given to the families of the youth that come to the Boys and Girls Club. Though, this may not seem like a big and grand social event and it may even be typical, but what I loved about doing this was that we were helping families without directly asking them to expose their personal and financial life styles. This was a chance to give to a family who may not have been able to buy a Thanksgiving dinner, and it was done in a way so that they did not feel singled out because we gave it to every parent/guardian that walked through the door to pick up their children. Relating this to youth and how it is a Social Justice event to me was very simple.


 This event was teaching the youth at the Boys and Girls Club that they could help people without asking them things that may have seemed touchy or  personal. Things like this happens all the time. We often do things that will affect a large group of people and even those that need help without them feeling like the spotlight is on them. I know  when i was growing up I did not like to singled out and if there was a general event where I could get help I would go. This is not always the best tool but it is often times effective. When reaching out to youth, they are often bashful about certain situations in there lives, so often times they are not going to come forward because they do not want to be judge and also there is pride included. As a future youth worker I have learned that in some instances we have to be direct with youth especially when we feel that they are headed down a very dangerous road and they need help. There are also situations that you cannot be as direct but, we have to work more generally because if not we can cause the youth the run away from help because they feel like they are being singled out rather than getting the help that they really need. 

This event was great and it opened my eyes to some of the things that we been talking about through the course of learning to be youth workers. In this moment I was doing Charity rather than Change, but in this for the moment I was able to help a family who may have never asked for help. I feel that this also helps working parents/guardians in a way that does not put their pride on the front firing line.


2 comments:

  1. This event sounded great. It's inspiring that the community is donating to help other families in the area. The pictures were meaningful especially the one about Thanksgiving being inadequate to show how thankful we should be for everything we have.

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  2. This quote struck me: "What I loved about doing this was that we were helping families without directly asking them to expose their personal and financial life styles. This was a chance to give to a family who may not have been able to buy a Thanksgiving dinner, and it was done in a way so that they did not feel singled out because we gave it to every parent/guardian that walked through the door to pick up their children." Great point and so much a part of developing a community.

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