A Room of Their Own
A room in the basement of the The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Center in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood used to be filled with chairs, musical instruments, and other odds and ends. Now it’s often filled with teenage girls, discussions about everything from boys to the Bible, cooking, crafts, and laughter.
The room was the brainchild of Red Shield Center Corps Officer Captain Nikki Hughes, who, during open gym times at their corps community center, got tired of seeing all the girls sitting along the wall looking bored while the boys played basketball.
So, she eyed a storage room in their building’s finished basement and made the girls an offer: “If you help me clean it out, you can meet there.”
The room is now pastel pink and home to SIS, Strength in Sisters, an after-school mentoring program for junior high and high school-aged girls. They hang out in the room whenever there’s someone around to supervise, and have planned activities – such as making shrimp tacos or tie-dying shirts – two to three days a week.
“It’s exciting having a room of our own,” said Jatavia (Tay), a 17-year-old who can regularly be found there. She’s especially fond of the photo wall, adorned with pictures she and the other girls take with the polaroid camera they keep in the room. In fact, they’ve taken so many photos, they had to expand the photo wall. “I’m in every one,” Tay admitted with a smile.
While the girls take photos of each other, learn to cook new dishes, dance along to YouTube videos, and sing karaoke, they also talk. “They discuss what goes on in school, the challenges of living in poverty, bullying, the stress of their grades not being what they want them to be,” said Captain Hughes. “Some of them are often the ‘mom’ of their household, so they need support and an outlet to just be girls.”
Savannah, an 18-year-old regular at SIS, said she really appreciates their Bible study times. “I like having people to talk to about my feelings,” she said. “I’m a teen, so I’m going to have heartbreak.” She also noted that the girls in their community now have a “stronger bond” because of this time they spend together.
Many of the girls have blossomed from this extra encouragement and community, Captain Hughes said, which is no small thing considering all the pressures girls their age are under.
A sign of this newfound confidence is the ceiling tiles each of the girls have decorated with their name and likeness or interests. Both Savannah and Tay have decorated tiles in the room, leaving their mark on this room and this community that has clearly left its mark on them.
Learn more about this and the other ministries at The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Center here.
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