I did Legacy Center Foundation TL in February 2010:
Would you give kids in juvy a second chance? Maybe you wouldn’t and maybe you would. I once thought that kids in juvenile detention were bad, bad people. I watch law shows, you see, and I used to believe that these kids were worthless. But on February 13, 2010, my mom took my brother and me to a juvenile detention area and immediately I found that it looks very different than I had seen on T.V. My mom brought us because she likes doing community service. She was a coach at Legacy Center and she told me that she thought that it would be a good “learning experience”. I explained that I was scared and nervous to be around people that committed crimes.
“You’re even safer here then you are at your own school or in our neighborhood,” my mom said. This, of course, didn’t make me feel any better. I looked around at my surroundings while my mother chatted with a work friend. Ten foot high fences and barbed wire all around me. I suddenly felt like a prisoner myself. When I looked around and happened to catch a glimpse of the boys, I noticed they were all wearing uniforms and walking in something of a line. They didn’t strike me as dangerous so much as clueless or curious. I felt very outsider-ish like an explorer marveling at a large group of people that the world had never seen or noticed before. I just wanted to stare at them; examine them. Maybe I was thinking about how different they really are or maybe I was just trying to find something wrong with them.
The Legacy Center Leadership Team was going to build a dog agility course at the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center so that the juveniles could train dogs from the shelter and give them obedience classes so the animals would be more adoptable. The boys were helping build the fenced area and the training equipment and the next day, when it was complete, everyone celebrated with pizza and soft drinks. The woman in charge of the event gave a speech about every individual that helped and she started talking about the supervisor of the boys that helped with the project. The woman said,
“Let’s give it up for Mr. Jones*! I was talkin’ to him and I asked him if he was proud of his boys and do you know what he said? He said he is always proud of them.” This touched my heart and really made me think.
When the woman finished her speech, they all announced that it was time for the pizza and another woman said that they should all say grace. They suggested one boy in particular.
The boy said, “Everyone bow your heads. Please Lord bless these people for coming here to help us train dogs. Bless us. Bless everyone and please help us to have a good life. Amen.” As soon as the boy was finished with the prayer, I began to tear up and think about what I had learned in school about accepting one another no matter what, I realized that this is what it took for me to actually understand what this meant. I thought about these kids, all around the world. Some are in jail for things that maybe they didn’t even rightfully deserve. The one thing that made me feel safe at the beginning of the trip was having my mom close by. These kids don’t even have the reassurance of a parent to back them up or make them feel better when they’re sad or scared.
So my whole point is that anybody and everybody, deserves a second chance and we should all accept others. I’m glad I had an opportunity to learn this very important lesson.
*not his real name
Nicole Gabriel.
I traveled from Chapel Hill to Asheville with my children to assist with this Legacy Center project, just we have done with other projects in the past. My children are the ones who benefit most from my involvement in these service projects because they learn how to give of themselves without expecting anything in return; they always say how much they love being around the leaders who create these projects because they can feel the love and joy that is generated. Now that’s the kind of world I want my children to live in!