Camden and I made a long weekend trip to Camden, New Jersey. This is the city where I worked and lived for 15+ summers/years. We stopped in Pittsburgh to pick up my friend Elizabeth and her two boys, Salim and Rimere. It was two long days of driving. I appreciated having the extra hands to help with Camden...Rimere was particularly good at assisting his God-sister.
When we arrived at UrbanPromise Headquarters, the elementary school was just letting out. What a surprise when one of "my boys" stepped out of his car to pick up his daughter. Big Joe is a "kid" I've known since the 80's. He now is married and has a family of his own. He was thrilled to tell his daughter that I taught him to drive a car....he was only 14 at the time, but was always the size of a grown man. I have many, many interesting stories about Big Joe (including the time I had to literally stop him from killing one of the staff...oh my). He really is a gentle soul and I always try to see him when I come back to town.
Two of the teachers at the school are also former kids in my program. Tony (on the left) and Greg (right) were both boys in the afterschool program when they were like 7 or 8. They grew up attending all the programs and being StreetLeaders as teenagers. Tony went to Eastern College and Greg went to Azusa Pacific University on scholarships through UP. What success stories!
A few of my staff members are still at UP. I used to hold the record for length of time, but they have since surpassed my time. Brian (one of my directors) and his wife Sandy had us over for dinner. What a wonderful time with old friends. Camden especially liked their doggie!
Rimere and Salim loved all their toys and books!
I was thankful that they were willing to let Elizabeth and the kids stay a little while that evening so that I (and Sandy) could go to a funeral for the grandmother of two of the boys that I was closest to. Despite the circumstances, I was moved to be able to hug Jeremy (who now lives in Boston) and Jacob (who is the StreetLeader director - another success story). Jeremy has always called me "twin" since we share the same birthday. They were in my first afterschool program in 1990 and were boys that I spent one evening a week with for 12 years. They are my kids in a lot of ways.
We also stopped for a brief visit with another former staff worker, Michelle, her husband Andy (who is still with UP) and their three kids. Abria is just a week older than Camden.
Allette is a few years older and their foster daughter is in between (she was taking a nap). Camden was in hog-heaven with all the girl toys, books, and pets.
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