Recently, a teen from our neighborhood died of what appears to have been an accident with a handgun. I am sad to say that the death of the young men and women of color in this neighborhood are not commonplace, but they are all too frequent. What made this particular death so painful is that this kid was one of our own. He was one who had found his way into tutoring and into our lives. For over a year, he attended basically everything that we did (tutoring, church, trips). At Summer's Best Two Weeks, I watched as he shed tears at a presentation of the passion of the Christ.

From time to time, I start to think about CHAT as an organization or a program, but the kids always remind me of the reality. We are more than a corporation, we are a community, a fellowship. Tutoring, mentoring, Bible studies, and trips are all great, but these do not define us. They are merely outgrowths of the community. I was reminded of this recently. One of kids in our community came up to me and had an incredibly perplexed look on his face. I probed a little, but this young man seemed like he was choking on the words, something not normal for this particular regular.

“I didn’t come here for that!” These words danced around in my mind as I looked at the totally drunken man standing at my front door. We had only been living in the neighborhood for a few weeks. Where we had lived previously (in the West End of Richmond) there were people who got just as drunk, but they tended to do it far more privately. This guy was out in the open, and he wasn’t going to hold anything back. He was also a neighbor (one of the few that was even willing to speak to my wife and I in our first weeks as the only white people in the community).

My most rewarding and memorable experiences working with CHAT kids come from including them in my weekend plans – doing in their eyes "grown-up stuff". Some of these times hanging out with the "fel'las" has involved fishing (something I do regularly), Richmond Braves games (another frequent activity), camping, and movie nights. In these times when the boys are outside of their normal environment and comfort zones their tough exterior seems to melt away and they can enjoy being young and boys.