Back to School Jam

Benjamin Trnka

This Saturday, David and I volunteered at one of the largest community events that Greater Grand Crossing organizes every year – The Back to School Jam. At this 9th annual event, largely funded and supported by Revere CARE (a community organization focused on restoring the community from various angles), we spoke with characters that we had met throughout our GGC experience and interacted with seemingly thousands of community kids. Our booth was also a great hit, set up to advertise our STEP (Strength Through Exercise Program) Community Walk and promote healthy behaviors by giving out UHI goodies in return for completing exercise challenges.

The event was focused on preparing kids for school, arming them with both tangible materials (school supplies) and motivation from family and peers. But the event had another meaning in the community as well: it was one day in the year where there was no community violence and instead just a fun and safe environment for community members of all ages support its future generations.

This isn’t to say that the sanctity of the park space wasn’t broken, however. Some teenagers came to the event and smoked pot in the corner of the playground, and even threatened Youth Center employees. As one of the Youth Center employees pointed out, it was plain sad that such teens would come to a community event like this, spurting mean words and spreading their deleterious behaviors. These are not the examples that we should set out for the young children there.

Aside from the couple disconcerting incidents like that, which served to remind me that the community was far from perfect, we saw a lot of beautiful things at the event. Firstly, it was exciting to see all the community members that we had been collaborating with throughout the summer in one place. The employees from the Youth Center, Revere CARE members, a Pastor whom we had interviewed, the ‘Major’ of Pocket Town, and even a local photographer were all there, supporting the community. The amount of love and time they had put into making the event a success was truly beautiful and inspirational, and provided such a welcome atmosphere to a community that needs much more of that energy.

I hope that we’re able to bring that same positive energy to the community when we do our culminating community walk this upcoming Thursday. It’s been a huge push to create such an event, but we’re all truly optimistic about how the event will turn out, and hope that it’s something that the community and Youth Center hold onto for a long time. Every community deserves that sense of comfort and collective love, and I hope that our project further catalyzes the creation of that environment.