First of all, let me thank you for printing my Dec. 6 letter about the suicide of one of our girls. The response I received was incredible. There were people that offered land for a place for the kids and others offered financial help.
I never thought that one letter could cause such a reaction. Nevertheless, I contacted all the people and we decided the next step would be to get together for a meeting, which was held on Feb. 2. Again, I was astonished. The attendance was phenomenal.
At the meeting there were about a dozen kids. Yes, the kids showed up to a meeting with adults. There were teachers, mothers, fathers and community people in general. The outcome was that the kids are crying out for a place to go, to be and to “hang.” They all mentioned that they wanted a place that is away from school. That was very clear. They all want a place where they can do what kids do: skateboard, dance, listen to music, jam, do art, have poetry readings and meditate. I must say I was impressed.
All these teenagers said the same thing. They want a place where they can go when life gets tough and they want to have someone to address their problems to. They thanked all of us adults at the meeting and asked to please help create such a place.
Thus I was asked to write a letter to the community to ask our families, mothers, fathers and grandparents to please help. We need to create such a place. I know that when we pull together as a community regardless of what we think as adults, we can create such a dream for our kids. I have no agenda but to listen to these teenagers and my intent is to make this happen for them.
We will hold a follow-up meeting at my house early in March. It is my objective to pull our community together. Our children are asking us to and our children deserve this. Let’s all work together to make this happen.
I intend to listen to these kids and give them what they are asking for and in need of. Please call me at 310.589.5682, if you would like to come to the next meeting.
Barbara Bassill