Saturday, while tossing clothes off the foot of my bed in an effort to find my brush, I came across the sweater I’d worn on Thursday. Pinned to the sweater was a fish given to me by one of the kids at the Boys and Girls Club. He’d been given two identical pins by his fishing teacher, one of which he wore that night, the second was there still attached to my sweater. Upon seeing the bass or trout or whatever it is, I burst into tears.
My last day at the Boys and Girls Club was the Friday between the Thursday night Christmas banquet and my Saturday morning meltdown. I started working at the Burnet Middle School Club last spring with hope of making a difference. There are stats…
I wish I could say definitively that those statistics were my experience. However, the facts are these. I don’t know that my brief stint there had any impact on the grades of those children or whether or not they will drop out of school in the future. I cannot say they now respect authority and behave like perfect gentlemen and proper ladies. And I’m pretty sure that playing ping pong with them did not change the course of their lives.
I do know there’s a fish attached to my sweater and 100 middle schoolers pinned to my heart. And yes, I do know that is an incredibly cheesy sentence. Regardless, the ache in my chest tells me it is true. And most importantly, I do know my God can make a difference.
I will continue praying for those kids and for Ms. Ruby and her staff that day in and day out continue to love, correct, and encourage each of those boys and girls. Maybe one of the answers to those prayers will be you… you deciding to spend an hour or two a week playing pool, listening, laughing. Who knows, maybe there’s a little trout at the Boys and Girls Club with an attitude and messy hair for you?
