Sunday, December 17, 2006
Christmas Cheer
With all of the hardships that face our world today it is amazing to be working for an organization that gives back and gives me the opportunity to help our youth grow and develop. City Year has allowed me to become a leader, and role model to the high school aged youth of Philadelphia. For those of you who do not know, Philadelphia has one of the worst schools systems in the country, there are seniors in high school who do not know their basic time tables, Philadelphia is also plagued with one of the highest murder rates in the country as well, we are fast apporching 400 for the year, basically youth of Philadelphia have a tough road ahead of them if they want to have any sort of chance to go to college. In Philadelphia many youth are lost to gangs, drugs, poverty, and violence and my team at City Year help run a program called City Heroes, that takes 150 high school aged youth and teach them leadership skills, civic awareness, civic engagement, and helps develop them as young people to stand up for what they believe in, to make a change in their communities and to believe in themselves and the results so far have been so amazing that I dont think there are words to describe the magic I see happening in these kids. Yesterday was our first community service event with these high schoolers and we did 8 hours of service, painting and cleaning up a run down recreation center. By the end of the day the kids were laughing, making new friends, cheering, and most importantly getting wonderful compliments from people on the streets on what a wonderful job they are doing and that they are giving a community hope. These kids are are learning what it means to be part of a communtiy and that they can make a difference. I dont think this blog is doing justice to what I saw in these high schoolers, I have never seen so many young people so happy to be doing service, so happy be with a diverse group of people who they now call their friends, who they will soon call their family. I am so proud and so honored to be a part of this movement, to teach these kids that there is hope for the youth of Philly. So, my joy this Christmas goes out to my new corps of 150 students from all over Philly, you are giving Philly a reason to believe, and you make me so proud to be your leader this year.
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5 comments:
you make me proud, bobaloo
I am so proud to be your mom.
Hi Ali-bo.
Try looking up East Aalo Alto or Oakland, Ca.
It is quite a sad situataion, and "they" call America a first world? I like your blog BTW, I know you have very little recollection of me but I REMEMER you quite well. Keep on posting, when you have time.
Dear Ally:
We, Lolo and Lola, are so very proud of you. You will always be our sweet little girl, but with a difference. You have grown so well and matured in a manner which makes so very happy and proud that we are your grandparents. We love you. God bless you.
Lolo and Lola
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Chris Bassoo…This year will never return for a "redo" and we will never be able to relive any moments in this year ever again and our actions and words will always stand...Every day , we have choices to do a multitude of things, we have the choice of walking on the sidewalk or running through traffic, it is our choice to hopefully walk on the sidewalk...so imagine making the decision to be happy and share that happiness with someone else???...now take that further, and imagine making one person feel cared for everyday...the concept for the Mansion of Ads is just that, many people coming together to be a part of something great...well we all are already a part of something great, and that is life, we all wake up with the same amount of time in our day and the same opportunity to touch another person's life and make a difference to that person...this time of year is usually a time of reflection and thought on what the new year will bring...and more important than what the new year will bring to me is what I have learned from this past year...I have learned that family is so very important and it is okay to be vulnerable, it is okay to feel sad and it is okay to say "I love you"...It is okay to admit that you need help and it is okay to enjoy your successes...since high school I have always said "live is short, live it good"...I have truly had an amazing time with my family over the past few weeks, I met cousins from Texas that I never met before (Sonja (Texas morning classes), Francesca (mute), and Melissa (snow slip girl), we had get togethers that we never would take the time to plan in the past, my goal this year is to make sure that all our family takes the time to be together and share in each others company, break bread and truly enjoy family as we should...Our parents had the right idea when we were young and that is why we turned out the way we did, so it is now our turn to take the torch and be the role models that we can be...so with that ramble, on behalf of Christopher Bassoo and family, we want to with you and yours the very best, and blessed new years ever...let's make 2007 the best year ever in our lives, we have the power to make it that way...Welcome 2007!!!
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