Intentionally Making a Difference – Part One 2008

Intentionally Making a Difference – Part One 2008

In 2008, sitting at a table with some teens from Taunton (MA) High School, one said, “What we really need is a teen center.” His friend dismissively responded, “That will never happen.”

Tracey Medeiros and I looked at them, then at each other and said, “That would make a great Make a Difference Day project.”

Tracey and I connected to National Make a Difference Day events around 2005. For those who are unaware, it is the largest national day of community services, founded in 1992 by USA Weekend Magazine.

Achieving our goal did not come easy. There were many naysayers but one by one, the barriers began to come down. The school committee agreed to let us use the gym of an unused school building if – if we could clean it out.  It was filled with stacks of furniture. 

Volunteers showed up, from teens to grandparents and including the mayor.  The gym was emptied and cleaned and painted. The Silver City Teen Center was born, a safe haven to help keep teens off the streets, ages 13 to 19 years old. Within a few months, we realized that we had a melting pot of youth, all getting along peacefully, from known gang members, to the self-identified “nerds,” to the LGBT+ crew, to the Goths and the gamers and artists. 

As an After-School project, teens were introduced to public and mental health concerns such as under-aged drinking, teen depression, and suicide prevention.

In April of 2009, I received notice that our teen center had won A National Make a Difference Day $10,000 award. I can never put into words how it felt to call everyone together in the gym and share that announcement with them. When we closed the doors 10 years later it was with the knowledge that not only had we made a difference for so many youth, but that we were watching them grow into adulthood and continuing to make a difference for others.

Looking back, this was our first Compassionate Advocacy project. There have been many since.