By James Menaker | Executive Director at Joel's Place
It is a typical Friday at Joel's Place Skate Park and Youth Center. Our Financial Manager arrives at 8 and begins reconciling account, answering phones and managing grant requirements. I arrive at 9 and check in before diving into cleaning and preparing. You see, we have a field trip coming over today. By 9:30 we have 20 helmeted second graders running up and down the ramps, ripping their pants when they slide and yelling like banshees. I lead the kids through skill stations, snack, free play and lunch with one of our other staff before they all head back to school, grudgingly, at 11:30. As they are leaving they all say thank you and I hear many iterations of "I wish we didn't have to leave," "That was the funnest field trip ever," and "Can I have my birthday party here?"
11:30-12:30 are spent cleaning up, readjusting helmet straps and answering the messages that came in while the field trip was around. The next hour and a half are used to answer e-mails, make connections and complete paperwork. 2:00 the Joel's Place staff and some Board Members meet together for a presentation on Autism in teens. We cover subjects like what Autism is, how it manifests in teenage boys, how to communicate and conflict de-escalation. As we talk, we realize that several of our members likely will fall onto the spectrum and we think through how to best serve them.
3:00 the doors open. The skate park is cleaned, the Red Room is ready and there is food available for the kids who are famished after school. The youth trickle in and then begin arriving in waves. Fridays we will generally have 40-60 kids come through our doors. There is skating and biking going on. Video games are going. The pool table, ping-pong table and foosball set are all constantly being used.
6pm is a busy time: Drum lessons start. A Pokemon tournament gets underway up in the conference room. A homemade dinner is served for free. Every room has someone doing something fun. Kelli, Jon, Leah, Darius, Rhema and Stokes make the rounds, ensuring that everyone is safe while a few volunteers help clean up dinner and talk with the kids. There are a couple of closed door conversations going on in the midst of the cacophany as our staff help a few kids work through recent crises.
9pm we close...kind of. From 9:09-10:10 we host 1080, a gathering of church youth groups and their friends to play dodgeball, eat and learn. It is a time full laughter and joy. The building finally empties out between 10:30 and 11 as the staff turn everything off and lock everything up. It has been 15 hours of energy and activity; the building, and staff, needs a rest before we start again on Saturday.
It is because of your generosity and support that all of this is able to happen. Thank you so much for everything that you do to help us invest in youth. This is a safe place full of fun and opportunity for dozens and dozens of young people every day. I feel blessed to work here and know that we are supported by such a great network of partners.
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