camp w kids in the hood

This week I had the distinct priviledge of taking 4 of the neighborhood kids to Camp Shiloh every day! If you've never heard of the camp, it's for "at risk" kids, and it's awesome www.shilohcamp.org You would never know it's right off of Broadway Extension and 63rd!


The kids had a blast, I think Crystal rode horses every single day (shown here doing her talent show dance), and they all at least "attempted" the ropes course. One of the kids is the 9 year old that is in the DHS shelter right now, but I was "approved" to take him as well. That is a whole other story...and unfortunately he's not in any of these pics...


Anyway, today he refused to go. Apparently he got in trouble yesterday at camp and lost his free time today, and so he decided to go on a "camp strike." I honestly have no idea how to handle it when kids decide to act that way...I mean, what kid would rather sit in a shelter all day than go to camp with his friends from home? I bribed him with McDonald's for breakfast, and told him again how Walt and I were really looking forward to watching him in the talent show that night, but he just kept up the hang-dog act and wouldn't budge. I was so depressed when I left the shelter without him...and I don't know if I'll get to see him again, or how long he'll have to stay there. His older brother and sister are both at a different shelter, and they still haven't been able to find a foster home for them. I talked to one of the case workers the other day and he said there are between 13 and 15,000 kids in the Oklahoma DHS foster system at any given time. Some are in shelters, some are in foster homes. It blew my mind. This morning while I was waiting for him, this precious little girl, about 4 or 5, came out of one of the rooms. She was so beautiful, it just makes me want to take them home! This whole experience has really made our dream of someday having a "kids ranch / shelter" even more pronounced. We still don't know how, or what, or where, but man, there are 15,000 kids in Oklahoma alone that need it.





After the talent show we took the kids to Braums for one last treat. They were all exhausted, and probably would have almost preferred to just go home and go to bed, but they rallied for ice cream. Walt and I were both rather annoyed that their parents didn't all stay for the talent show and take them home, but then we realized we should be grateful they came. And we had fun taking them all home one last time...and getting to hear each of their "stories." I had started a daily ritual of asking each of them for their "Story" from the day. Of course, there were many rules involved about not interrupting someone else's story, and once they had this concept somewhat mastered, I added the "questions and comments" rule. This allowed the kids to ask a relevant question (or non-relevant) of the story-teller, and kept the non-tellers somewhat involved. It may sound like an easy task, but these kids haven't learned the art of conversation, and this was quite a challenge. I didn't realize how much they enjoyed it until the last night, when Walt and I were taking them home, and we hadn't been in the car five minutes before one of them piped up, "Can we tell our stories now?" Man, these kids just want someone to listen to them.