Priceless: A Visitor Discovers the Childrens Programs at the Temple Corps in St. Louis
Originally published at: https://blog.salvationarmyusa.org/2013/05/09/priceless/
Dana Biermann is the Digital Marketing and Communications Manager for The Salvation Army Midland Division in St. Louis, MO. Dana is an avid fan anything digital and fighting poverty, so working for The Salvation Army is a great fit. She lives in St. Louis and just can’t get enough of Twitter. Click here to learn more or find them on Facebook by visiting www.facebook.com/SalArmySTL.
Yesterday, Ashley Kuenstler (our Content Specialist) and myself went out to our Temple Corps in St. Louis City to get some pictures of the kids in the evening programs that are offered there.
We got to spend the evening watching kids play kickball, while other tiny ones were in the Moonbeams character building program carefully creating hand-print art for their moms, and another group was practicing the National Anthem to perform for our Behind the Red Shield Gala this Friday.
Now, judging by the after-school programs and evening activities I had growing up, I was expecting chaos: TONS of kids, leaders shouting to get their attention, kids being mean to each other… just general rowdiness.
And I could not have been more wrong.
The kids were so well-behaved. They were so supportive of each other, and even during kickball when the tiniest of players had his turn kicking the ball (and his team expected he would get tagged out), the bigger kids were cheering him on and being very patient. All of them were having a blast. And when one child kicked the ball so hard that he homered into the street, the leaders very calmly and patiently brought all the kids together and they listened intently as he reminded them of the safety procedures when someone gets a home run and why their safety was so important. They all nodded in agreement, and went back to the game.
This made me smile so big. Our motto is Doing The Most Good, and yesterday, I saw the most good being encouraged in these kids by the amazing leadership at Temple Corps. We don’t have these programs for the sake of having them: we have them because they are needed. Kids need positive outlets in nurturing environments in all neighborhoods, and in Benton Park, we have that. We also have it in North City, Maplewood, and South City, and all over the county and the region. And for the kids in these programs, the benefits are priceless.
We need your help to make sure that our city corps have the after-school funding they need by voting for us to win $20,000.You can vote every day and know that it is going toward the betterment of these amazing kids in great programs. But we can’t do that without you. Stop by Monsanto’s Grow St. Louis Facebook page and vote for us every day through May 19th.
On behalf of all the kids in our programs, thank you!