2008 DreamTree Walkathon!

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The Walkathon took place on Saturday, September 13th. above are 4 youth from DreamTree holding the banner they created. This photo was taken just before the six mile walk began. I have more photos from the event which I'll get up after I've had time to edit them. BIG THANKS to everyone who has supported this, whether through your donations or just your good wishes. You can still donate if you'd like to, as the donation widget in my earlier post will remail active through Sept. 20th.

Fundraiser For DreamTree Project

Once again this year, tied in with the annual Walkathon fundraiser event, I am asking for donations here on my blog to help support the DreamTree Project in Taos, NM. Last year I raised $360 for DreamTree, and I hope to raise even more this year. (C'mon, EntreCard droppers- drop a few bucks to help the kids while you are here!)

All donations will go towards the ongoing operation of DreamTree Project's transitional living center for homeless youth, ages 16 - 14, where they can live for up to 2 years, as well as towards the opening of a short term emergency youth shelter for youth in crisis, ages 13 - 17. To learn more about DreamTree Project in general, click HERE. To learn more specifically about the annual Walkathon which is coming up on September 13th, click HERE. You can look into some of the faces of the wonderful young people who have called DreamTree 'home' in the past by clicking HERE.

Click on the 'ChipIn' button on the box above to make your donation. And THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your support.

You can see some clips from previous DreamTree Project Walkathons in the little videos below.

2006 Walkathon:: click HERE to see short video from 2006 event!

2007 Walkathon:

click HERE to see short video from 2007 event!

YOU Can Help Youth In Crisis!

This post is to raise money for a very worthy cause- helping young people who are going through upheaval in their lives. The DreamTree Project, in Taos, New Mexico, provides a safe, structured place to live for up to 16 homeless youth, ages 16 to 24. These youth are helped to regain balance in their lives, become empowered through personal growth, and learn life skills they will need to make it on their own. Youth can live at DreamTree for up to two years, while healing from the past, and preparing for the future.


Now the DreamTree Project is getting ready to open 'The Tree House', which will be an emergency youth shelter for kids ages 13 to 17, who are in crisis at home. Soon, rather than running away to the streets or other dangerous situations, these young people will be able to come to The Tree House. They'll have a safe place to stay for up to 14 days, while receiving services and advocacy to improve their home situations. There's a great need for this in Taos. In spite of the amazing beauty of this area, poverty and domestic violence are high, and it is often the children who suffer.


On September 9th, the 2nd annual Walkathon fundraiser will be held in Taos, to raise money for The Tree House. You can read about the event HERE. If you live near Taos, please come join us! In conjunction with the Walkathon, friends & supporters of DreamTree are raising money, and so I'm asking my blog readers for donations, all of which will go to support the opening of The Tree House. Last year's Walkathon raised $29,000. This year we hope to raise even more. Also last year, generous friends of DreamTree provided funding to purchase the house that is being turned into The Tree House.

DreamTree Youth Lead Last Year's Walkathon

If your heart is telling you to help, please click on the orange ChipIn button in the box below, and you can leave a donation through PayPal. I'll be collecting these donations, and then passing them on to DreamTree on the day of the Walkathon, September 9th. If you'd like a tax deductible receipt for your donation, please let me know, and I'll see that one is sent to you.



(My personal fundaiser for DreamTree has now ended, with $360 raised. If you would still like to give a donation, to help support DreamTree, you can do so by clicking here HERE . Thanks!)

If you have any questions about DreamTree Project, or The Tree House, please ask! DreamTree Project is a non-profit organization, funded entirely by grants and donations, so fund raisers like this are vital to keeping it alive. I thank you all in advance for your generosity, whether you're able to contribute $1 or $100, it is GREATLY appreciated, and will go to make positive changes in a child's life.


In closing, I'd like to leave you with a poem I wrote about my little sister, Temple, back in 2002, when I first became familiar with the DreamTree Project. I believe that if there had been a place like DreamTree for Temple to have gone to when she was a teenager it might have changed the course of her life, and she might still be alive today. That is the potential impact programs such as DreamTree can have on a troubled young person's life.


TEMPLE

When I was eleven and you were six,
you didn't believe the grown-ups,
when they told you that Dad was dead.
But he was, he was (just like Mom).
You believed it when I told you.
You believed me, when you were little.

When did you stop believing me?
Was it when you were 15,
and were thrown out of the house,
unwanted again, and on your own?

Or was it a year or so later,
when I found you cowering in my kitchen,
waving around that butcher knife,
in a panic of fear,
because your coke dealer
had just tried to rape you?

Did you believe me when I visited you
in the state mental hospital
(scary, scary, scary),
where they'd put you
when you'd said you would kill yourself?

I know you didn't believe me
when you drank that last bottle of vodka,
and then sliced the razor up your arm,
to let the blood flow out.

But maybe NOW you believe me again,
now that you are dead.
Maybe now you've found peace.

Because I tell you:
There IS peace,
and there IS love,
and there IS joy.
And I hope you believe me now.

Some Views From DreamTree

All is Well

"After dark,
the Devil
plants a garden
in my dream."

That is what someone has spelled out, from the set of magnetic words, on the refrigerator here at the Zombie Free Youth Shelter where I work. I wear different hats here, but one thing I've been doing for the past four plus years is the overnight supervision shift. This involves mostly just being here during the night to ensure that the kids are sleeping alright, and not sleeping with each other or doing anything else they're not supposed to be doing. And then, in the morning, seeing that they get up and get ready for the day ahead. There are periodic room checks throughout the night. And usually, everything is OK during those checks. Or at any rate, things appear to be OK. The kids appear to be sleeping.

But what about that Devil, and that garden he is planting? Their Devil is for the most part invisible to me, just as mine is to them. But the difference is that I know that my Devil is just ME, wearing a Devil mask. When it sneaks up on me and says "BOO", it doesn't have the effect that it used to. My Devil has become rather transparent these days, and it doesn't come calling as much anymore.

The youth I supervise, though, their Devils are still solid creatures, breathing down their necks with breath that stinks of earlier terrors and perceived injustices. When they look for it, they can easily spot it all around them. Sometimes they see it in me, or one of the other staff members. Sometimes it's in their family. Sometimes it's in the other kids, or in their boss, or in their probation officer. Their Devil sneaks around, planting gardens and making trouble for them. Their Devil is a hard wall they are banging their heads against. Their problems seem to be that Devil's fault. That's how it usually goes, anyway. But every now and then, a kid begins to get suspicious that the Devil may not be 'out there'. In fact, they begin to see the Devil more easily when they close their eyes, look within, and move towards accepting personal responsibility for what exists in their lives. And that is when their Devil first begins to lose power over them, and the Devil's garden grows less abundantly.

As I wander the halls in the wee hours, while the children sleep, I talk to their clear Inner Beings, and I remind them that all is well. Sometimes I hear their Devil snicker in return, holding fast to the lie, but more often I feel their Wise One, their hidden Wise One, agreeing with me. Yes, no matter what the Devil appears to be planting in the night, in the light of day, in the light of truth, it is known that All Is Well. And so it is. Sweet dreams to us all.

Those Baggy Boys

A Florida preacher has started a new 'Pull Up Your Pants' campaign... it's about time. I have to refrain from yanking up the drooping pants of some of the teenage boys I supervise at work. I've seen way more young men's undies than I need to.

I also must admit to being amused by all the recent stories about young criminals who have been caught by police while making their get aways because their baggy pants fell down and tripped them up. For some reason the baggy pant wearing boys at the zombie free youth shelter where I work did NOT find those stories as funny as I did. Maybe wearing baggy pants somehow messes with your sense of humor?