Redwoods, Science Camp, Sidewalks & Art

Two themes emerged in the eulogies offered for Richard Sr. on Saturday: 1) his love for the outdoors and 2) his love for decadent french toast breakfasts. Tomorrow the Parks family will head up the California coast to live into both of these legacies. We're spending the week camping in the Redwood National Forest, and our secret french toast mix is all bottled and ready to go. Please pray that God will lead us beside still waters and restore our souls.

Please also continue checking the prayer guide. Our friend Amy will be posting updates about our Sky's the Limit Science Camp. The camp starts on June 29th so this coming week is critical! Since Amy shares an apartment with Lauren (our program director) she'll be able to keep you current on the challenges, obstacles and works of God that Lauren encounters each day. Stacie Paz will also share information about Streetlamp Studio's ministry with youth. Please pray boldly for God's work in our neighborhood kids and youth this summer!

Lastly, our sidewalk repair campaign is underway, with 13 volunteers starting to survey the damage. Please pray for this group by name as they set out to document problems and listen to their neighbors' concerns. You can also view their findings at the Take a Walk Campaign blog.

Raymond: Amy
Kenwood: Lauren
Normandie: Ihi
Brighton: Eddie
Halldale: Darren
Dalton: Jen
La Salle: Krista, Edith
Harvard: Bethany, Erika
Hobart: Andrew
Western: Amy
Jefferson: Kathy

On a personal note...

Nine out of ten of Richard Sr.'s grandkids.
The smiling, nicely dressed ones are nieces and nephews. The other three are ours.

We know that many of you pray for the Parks family personally and we have so appreciated your cards, notes, service and prayers during the last three weeks. On Saturday we honored Richard's father at a memorial service in Westlake Village near his home.

Richard and two of his dad's best friends offered eulogies and it was good to share the stories of ways we all were blessed by Richard Sr.'s life. We had a chance to meet a group of former co-workers who could not say enough about Richard Sr.'s skill, integrity and peaceful demeanor in the workplace. We also met his former yoga instructor, spinning instructor, hair stylist, masseuse and facialist. This was a caring crew who we wistfully realize won't be represented at our own funerals. Richard's stepmother Nancy is part of a women's club, and this group of ladies hosted a wonderful luncheon buffet, complete with flower arrangements from their own gardens. We are so glad for the frienship this group has provided, not just this weekend but steadily over the last three years.

It was especially encouraging to us to have our own friends and church family with us, whether they knew Richard Sr. or not. We were able to participate in the service and reception undistracted, thanks to others blowing bubbles and folding paper airplanes with the 10 energetic grandchildren. But most significantly, the weight of our grief was lightened by those came alongside us to share it. Thank you again for your prayers and words and presence.

Doctoral Student by Day. Sidewalk Activist by Night.

Amy Goh and her husband Arthur live on the 3000 block of Kenwood Avenue, where their home is shaded by a truly marvelous canopy of trees. Their sidewalks, however, require light climbing gear to traverse. The picture above shows the upheaval directly in front of Amy's home, which is mild compared to others on their block.

Our neighborhood is home to many, many mothers who push children, laundry and groceries in carefully loaded strollers. On Kenwood Avenue, as well as many other local streets, strolling on the sidewalks has become impossible. Our neighborhood is also home to many people who use wheelchairs and scooters to get around. Shopping and simple errands are challenging for this group under any circumstances. But in our neighborhood they face the added obstacles of unmaintained sidewalks and nonexistant curb cutouts at intersections.

Enter Amy and Arthur. By day Amy is earning her PhD in Marine Biology at the University of Southern California, and Arthur works for an engineering firm downtown. This summer they will moonlight as sidewalk activists. Our city has received substantial stimulus funds from the federal government that are designated for "shovel-ready projects." The goal is to increase employment while also making improvements to our infrastructure. Amy and Arthur want to see some of this funding used to create safe passages through our community, and they are organizing a campaign to make their case to our city council.

Please pray for Amy and Arthur as they lead this endeavor. And you can watch the effort unfold on their blog at http://takeawalkproject.blogspot.com.

All Hands on Deck

Thank you everyone who prayed for the Normandie/Brighton/Halldale Neighborhood Association meeting last night. Eleven adults, six kids and one 12-year-old gathered around a plate of brownies in our living room. We talked about illegal dumping behind a vacant property, the need for four-way stops around the park, cars getting repaired on the street, the pros and cons of speed bumps vs. roundabouts and neighbors throwing loud parties. One of our neighbors suggested creating a directory with all of our contact information, and someone else proposed organizing a trash cleanup day. It was a lively, enjoyable discussion and a good start overall. But here was the surprising thing: During the process of gating our alley and establishing "gate protocol" the group who gathered were primarily Spanish-speaking, and a majority renters. The group that came to last night's meeting were entirely English-speaking and all homeowners. We're not sure why this happened, but we want our gatherings to draw in both groups. Would you pray for God to weave ALL the households on our blocks together in friendship, teamwork and mutual care?

Warp and Woof

When Richard gives neighborhood tours he likes to use the term "warp and woof" to describe the thing we are trying to restore to our neighborhood. I (Anna) always think to myself, "Does anyone have any idea what he's talking about?" His favorite metaphor refers to the process of creating fabric: the warp are the lengthwise threads, under and over which the side to side threads—the woof—are woven. It's a great image, though perhaps lost on the average USC freshman.

Tonight is a big night for warp and woof on Normandie, Brighton and Halldale. It's the first official meeting of a new neighborhood association which will serve these blocks. Richard, Jordan and Isaiah spent the weekend passing out fliers and talking with neighbors about their hopes. Everyone they spoke with shares a concern for making our streets safer, and everyone has a unique perspective about how that should look. Some feel passionate about installing speed bumps. Others are wary, citing the potential downside of "slowing down emergency vehicles...or maybe slowing me down." Some perceive this group as a fresh new endeavor. Other carry memories of the last time a block club was organized here, which ended with some money disappearing and lots of blame cast between former members.

Tonight we will meet with our LAPD representative and begin the process of weaving our households together into a stronger, more resilient fabric. It will no doubt be a colorfully patterned one as well! Please pray for humor, grace, respect and vision to set the tone as we meet tonight at 7:15pm.

Want to know more?
Almost everything we know about warp and woof we learned from Bob Lupton, a community developer in Atlanta. When Jordan was a year old we had the chance to tour three neighborhoods Bob works in and see the impact that neighborhood associations are having. His reflection below paints a picture of what we hope to see happen on our own blocks:

Crime thrives when it is ignored. It springs back with resilience following police sweeps. It is immune to the threat of tougher laws and stiffer jail sentences. But it does not do well under the daily scrutiny of watchful neighbors.

Take Walker Avenue for instance. This two block, forty home street is an oasis of health in the midst of a high-crime area. Children play in safety and mothers push strollers down the street on carefree afternoon walks. Break-in's are rare because neighbors have established an active crime watch. Any stranger who pauses on Walker Avenue is bound to have someone inquire as to his business. What goes on in people's homes also becomes community business. Consequently, unwholesome activity soon comes to light.

Awhile back a neighbor across the street from us started picking up daily doses of illegal drugs on his way home from work. He would split his purchase with a friend a couple doors down. What began as a friendly gesture soon turned into an enterprise. Before long his house had a steady flow of traffic coming and going all hours of the day and night. When the pattern became too obvious to ignore, four adjacent neighbors met to discuss the matter. We elected a representative to go and speak to him on behalf of the community. We said that we were making no accusations, merely sharing our concerns, but that we were unwilling to take the chance of any of our children being cut down in the cross-fire of a transaction gone wrong. No threats were exchanged, but a clear, firm message from caring, watchful neighbors was communicated. The traffic dried up in less than twenty-four hours!

Every criminal (or potential criminal) lives somewhere. Ignore his activity and the house and street where he lives will soon become malignant. All it takes for crime to flourish is for responsible people to look straight ahead when they drive down their street and pull their blinds when they get into their house. And then lobby the government to put more police on the street and build more prisons.

Is it mere coincidence that at the very time we are seized by a national epidemic of violent crime, we are simultaneously experiencing the disappearance of community? It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to establish the causal connection. If we are too busy to get to know our neighbors, too absorbed in individual pursuits to consider the common community good, too involved in church activities to show concern for the well-being of our neighbors, then it should come as no surprise when crime springs up in the very places where we once felt secure.

The Sky's the Limit

Our program director Lauren is putting in long hours right now researching curriculum, arranging field trips and organizing scientific experiments for our summer camp. The theme for the summer is "Sky's the Limit" and the focus is flight technology. We know of at least one airplane-crazy 8-year-old boy who CAN'T WAIT to start. He is volunteering for every household chore he can think of to help his mom out and prove himself worthy of the $40 registration fee.

Our summer session is always a critical time for the kids we serve. The college interns who lead camp lavish the kids with love and attention. Our extended hours allow for more spiritual mentoring, more creative endeavors, more outdoor play AND more academic instruction. Last summer our students made significant progress in both skills and self-confidence, and we anticipate more of the same this year. But last week our planning took on added significance. On May 28th the school district announced they were canceling almost all summer school classes.

Normally the district would provide summer school instruction for 225,000 elementary and middle school students. Now these students' families are not only scrambling to find childcare, but losing the extra help that summer school provides for kids who are behind.

Sky's the Limit Summer Camp provides an alternative for 36 of the 225,000 children who just lost their summer school option. Lauren's phone is ringing frequently, and we are preparing to field far more applications than we have slots.

Here are some things you can pray for:
1) For God to guide and prepare our team of 6 interns from UCLA and Occidental College.
2) For God to provide all the volunteer help that Lauren is seeking for the summer.
3) For God to bring together the right group of kids. The specific things we hope for are: a) a solid mix of Black and Latino students, b) a group who will stick with our program through the coming academic year and c) a group that is tightly clustered geographically around our facility.
4) That God's people across the city would creatively serve and advocate for the children who need, and won't have access to, extra academic help this summer.

CAMP STARTS ON JUNE 29TH AND RUNS THROUGH JULY 31.

Urban Superheroes?

From an ABC News interview with Geoffrey Canada, Director of the Harlem Children's Zone...

ABC: What role did Superman play in motivating your life's work?

CANADA: One day my mother told me Superman wasn't real. I was absolutely stunned and broke into tears and she thought it was because of how much I loved Superman. What she didn't recognize was that I realized that if there were no Superman then no one was coming to rescue us. And I always thought Superman would get around to the South Bronx once he took care of Lex Luthor and some of the other villains in the world. When I realized there was no Superman and nobody was coming, I thought that if I ever made it out and got an education I would make sure that at least for the children that I could touch they would never feel like they needed a superhero to save them.

If you care about building better neighborhoods for children and you plan to read one book this year, allow us to recommend Geoffrey Canada's story told in Whatever it Takes by Paul Tough. While secular in it's perspective, this book has fundamentally challenged our thinking about Jesus' command to love our neighbor. The story of Canada's grand experiment in neighborhood-building has been alternately invigorating and devastating to us as we wrestle with how to rightly love our neighborhood's children.

We'll share more about the book in later posts. But here is a prayer for today:

Superman is not coming. Jesus, however, is already here. Pray that we, his people, will not be wearied or numbed by the sheer big-ness of the problems. That we will offer up to Jesus "whatever it takes" for his work to be fulfilled. Pray this for RCP's corner of South LA, and for the distressed communities near where you live, work and worship.