“There are no good or bad kids at Presencia. We’re all doing our best.”
On Tuesday, Katie said those words to a student who struggles with spelling, and I’ve been thinking about them since. She and our other program mentors all grew up in this neighborhood, and they know how difficult it can be for our students to believe they are worthy of love no matter how they perform.
From early childhood, the world places adult concerns on the children of immigrants. I’ve watched little kids speak to police officers, school administrators, and judges on their parents’ behalf. They care for siblings when their parents are exploited at difficult jobs or detained. They suffer abuse directly or witness it in their homes or neighborhoods. Then they are told they are “bad kids” when they underperform or act out at school.
Under all this pressure, our students need a space where they are each treated with the love, support, and dignity they deserve as unique and wonderful people. At Presencia, they learn to see themselves as beautiful, experience healing relationships, and lead others with love.
It takes a community to make this healing care possible. We would love to add ten new “Presencia Partners” who can join us in providing this consistent, life-giving work through a recurring monthly donation this Spring.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking about different aspects of the Presencia Family and asking for partners to join us. We’ll update you on our progress toward our goal as we go!
To help us reach our goal, you could set up a donation on our donate page or share this blog with someone else who might be interested in joining us.
