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| Look at that crowd! |
Tuesday was my last Write Night as Volunteer Coordinator at Free Minds. We had a spectacular turn out at our new GW location. Over the past 2+ years, I've seen Write Night morph from 8 friends in a church kitchen writing feedback on poems to over 50 people in a university lecture hall and a database of over 600 volunteers. The feedback our volunteers write to our poets gives them concrete evidence that they have a support system (no matter how small, distant or different they may be) who believe that they can contribute positively to the community.
While I think everything Free Minds does is wonderful, I've been most impressed by their relatively new initiative of hiring their members who have returned to the community to do outreach and violence prevention with youth (often like themselves) that are most vulnerable to getting swept up in the system. We need more programs like this!!!
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| Free Minds family |
Tara, the co-founder and executive director, made me promise in front of all 50 volunteers that I would bring Free Minds to Ohio. Cincinnati, ya ready?
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| New volunteer coordinator Seana, me and the amazing (and crazy!) Tara. |
