Aspen Village is an apartment complex in southeast Tuscaloosa with over 450 units. According to Tuscaloosa Police Department 2014-2016 stats, the quarter of mile radius around Aspen Village had the highest 911 calls in 2015. When I first decided to start helping out at a Bible Club in Aspen Village, I was asked two main questions: "Are you scared?" and "Why?"
It all started when went on a young adult trip to Camp Tuscoba in Northport, Alabama. There, I met Eric Boykin, father to Emili, who in is our young adult group at my church, Taylorville Baptist. He was there to share with us about missions in the Dominican Republic. Our church had planned to go that summer and our pastor wanted us to understand what we were going to see and experience. After sharing about that, the conversation led to community missions. This included Aspen Village. He said there was a need to start an after-school Bible Club on Tuesday afternoons and told me that I would be welcome to start it.
"Are you scared?"
I learned from Mr. Boykin that while it was true that the crime rate was high in this area, new management had recently taken over and was making an effort to change things. I was not scared. I relayed everything that he shared with me about the safety and the changes to all the people that asked me if I was scared. But I still didn't really understand the why they were asking the question. We were talking about kids, kindergarten through fifth grade. What should I be scared of?
"Why?" Why did I want to work with Aspen?
One of the classes I was taking my junior year in college required me to volunteer at a location that would help my future career. I chose the Tuscaloosa Juvenile Detention Center. This allowed me to have hands-on experience with troubled kids. I heard some of their stories of how they ended up there. A lot of them hurt me. I fell in love with working in that area. But something that made it difficult for me was knowing that when they went back home, the same environment that hindered them in the beginning would be the same environment that they would go back to. So no matter how much they reformed within the detention center, if they didn't have a different environment or different friends, there was a good chance they would end up back at the detention center. This is why I wanted to work in this ministry.
These kids weren't in trouble yet.
I had an opportunity to have a hand in their environment and influence them. Every Tuesday, I knew they were learning about God and their worth in Him. I knew they were surrounded by good people in this time. I saw them weekly so I was able to get updates about their life and sometimes if they were younger kids, I was able to talk to their parents about how they were doing in school.
One mother told me that her son was having trouble after finding out that his grandparents were getting a divorce. I was able to talk with her son about that and how it wasn't anything that he could have done. After that day, he continually talked to me about things going on at home or school. He has moved from Aspen Village now but his mom and I are friends on Facebook and I am able to ask how he is doing in school. That's a relationship I would never have had if it wasn't for this ministry.
Unfortunately, sometimes when people hear about work with low-income homes, there is a stigma surrounding them. Some people automatically believe that these kids are low-income only because their parents are lazy. For some, that truly could be the case. But for others, it's not. The boy I mentioned above had to deal with having bad migraines. As a third grader, this caused a problem because each time he had one at school, he wasn't able to stay. His mom had to work a job that she could leave if her son all of a sudden got a migraine at school.
Because of this, she worked part-time. Her husband worked two part-time jobs making minimum wage at both because he didn't have a college degree and was only able to find part-time work. His grandmother lived in the home as well and took care of their youngest daughter and didn't work because of age. They were doing a lot in order to stay afloat and yet were still behind in their rental payments, which is why they had to move from Aspen Village. His parents weren't lazy. It was just the simple fact that one of their children had a medical problem and he needed care.
Their story helped me see that you don't always know what people are going through.
God has a sense of humor...He decided to give me a big heart. I care for anyone and everyone. Caring for people the way I do means that when someone does something wrong, I still believe that they are good; I believe that there is hope for them. At this after school club, we had to have discipline, otherwise, we would never get anyone to behave. We had a three-strike rule. The first strike would be a warning.
The second strike would be that they would have to leave immediately. The third strike would be that they were sent home and they would miss the next week. If the child still did not behave, we didn't let them come back and told the parents that they weren't allowed back. We didn't make it to that stage often. In the year and a half I worked with Aspen Village, I only experienced that last discipline twice. However, I hated doing it.
One child I always felt listened better when being disciplined by women. He would always listen to me but as soon as a male told him what to do, he would make it seem like he didn't care. This caused problems. One week I wasn't there, he went through all three strikes and was asked not to come back. It broke my heart when I came back to hear that he was gone. I understand that he disrespected them and he had to be disciplined but big-hearted me believed that he would have behaved if I was there or maybe he was having a bad day. Maybe that's naive of me. But I just feel that sometimes these kids need someone to care for them and believe in them. That's what I do best.
During my time at Aspen Village, God taught me a lot about selfishness. This ministry opened my eyes and showed me how other people live and are treated. Usually, we live in our own little bubble. We don't always know what goes on around us. We want and want everything. We aren't hurting for anything and yet we still want more. I saw each week how some of these kids don't even have the food to eat each day. God taught me to love. Sometimes the kids didn't listen. Sometimes it was frustrating. But they can still be loved by us. We can be the ones to show them that someone cares about them and that they are worthy. We can show them God's love.
