As a
young woman who copes with cerebral palsy, I’ve always aimed to shape my
struggles into a story of strength. Over
the past few years, I’ve been involved with UrbanPromiseCharlotte. The ministry
consists of afterschool and summer camp programs that provide students with
spiritual and academic support to develop into strong Christian leaders who can
transform our city.
Recently,
I was invited to join students at UrbanPromise as they shared their own
“strength to love” stories. Listening to
these stories of leadership and love was a beautiful reminder that we are
stronger together. The students and
staff at UrbanPromise are a significant and special part of my strength. March is cerebral palsy awareness
month. In celebration of the story we
are writing together, I am inviting you to
GO
Green & Give TO URBANPROMISECharlotte!
I
remember my first day as a summer intern at UrbanPromise like it was yesterday.
The first student I ever met was a young elementary school boy who had missed
the bus and arrived late for camp. I
greeted him with a smile and told him my name.
He skipped six paces ahead of me
toward the cafeteria and said, “Miss Julie, you walk weird.” His tone suggested
that I might not know this and that maybe because my walk was weird I should
just stop. It’s normal for young people
to have this reaction but, when they do, I always consider how to explain being
different. So, I let this student eat
while I asked a member of our staff to help me explain. We tried our best to express that no matter
how differently I walked, I still loved being a part of UrbanPromise. It didn’t work. The student refused to talk to me all summer.
After all, I walked weird and caused him trouble!
Nearly
three years later, that same student is part of our middle school program at
UrbanPromise and always greets me with an enthusiastic, “Hey Miss Julie!” It’s amazing! The connection is an example of what happens
when our ability to encourage each other overweighs any reason we might not be
accepted.
Surprisingly,
he was also a student who shared his “strength to love” speech. His words were so powerful. “ I do not
always make the right choices and I’m not the easiest person to love… but I’m
trying to be better. And coming to UrbanPromise is working. “ It takes so much strength to admit that we are less than perfect and an even stronger community to celebrate us despite those imperfections.
This
student’s story embodies the best part of teaching and learning. In it, we see
that we don’t always have to start out with the ability to understand one
another perfectly. Instead, we just need the chance to slowly grow into who we
want to be! This only happens when we create
communities like the family that exists at UrbanPromise!
It’s an
extraordinary gift to walk alongside students as they write their own stories
of strength. I'm grateful for the way UrbanPromise turns struggle into strength for so many students our city. It such a life giving experience be a stronger leader, teacher, and thinking because I belong here. We are stronger together! You can support stories of strength & transformation that happen daily at UrbanPromise by clicking the link below.
GO Green & Give TO URBANPROMISECharlotte!
* Green is the color that promotes CP month
Ps. If you give to UrbanPromiseCharlotte or just read the blog--- Leave a comment. I want to know your thoughts and words of gratitude are important to me. My creative writing teacher used to say, "writers can't write in vacuum"...
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