Salvation Army: Build It ... They Will Come
Staff Photo by Mark Roberts
“If we leveled this off and fenced it in for safety, this could be two large soccer fields for kids to play in. All we need is the money to do it.”
— Aaron Todd, director, Salvation Army’s Summer Youth Program
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a three-part series on the Tyler Corps of the Salvation Army and its programs. This segment focuses on the Summer Youth Programs.
BY PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
Latchkey children in Tyler and surrounding areas are “falling through the cracks” and remaining unsupervised for hours, a Salvation Army official said on Tuesday. Families working two jobs to stay afloat need help to do the most basic and important job they have — raising their children.
BY PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
Latchkey children in Tyler and surrounding areas are “falling through the cracks” and remaining unsupervised for hours, a Salvation Army official said on Tuesday. Families working two jobs to stay afloat need help to do the most basic and important job they have — raising their children.
“Latchkey children in Smith County are a huge problem,” said Capt. John Falin, commander of the Tyler Corps of the Salvation Army. “They’re young, in elementary school, and both parents work to make ends meet. It’s not the parents’ fault. What else can they do? They have to work to survive.”
A mind- and spirit-deadening inactivity, or worse, trouble awaits many of these “latchkey kids,” said Falin.
“All these children are doing is watching TV,” he said. “Basically, they remain unsupervised from half-an-hour up to three or four hours every day until parents get home. It’s going to get worse during the summer. Sometimes children are afraid to go outside to play. Other times some kids do go outside and they get in trouble.”
The dilemma of parents working to survive at the cost of unsupervised children is not a benign scenario, Falin said.
“Our children are the future, and the time to invest in their lives is now — during the critical developmental years,” he said. “Watching TV will not foster an environment of development. This is not an atmosphere to create intellectual growth. Recent studies show that physical activity is linked to I.Q.
GOOD FIGHT
At the Salvation Army Community Center at the City of Hope, Aaron Todd, 27, leads a small group of children in the Salvation Army’s After School Program. In the large, and largely empty hall, the children do arts and crafts, sing songs and play games of all sorts.
At the Salvation Army Community Center at the City of Hope, Aaron Todd, 27, leads a small group of children in the Salvation Army’s After School Program. In the large, and largely empty hall, the children do arts and crafts, sing songs and play games of all sorts.
Todd, once an Olympic boxing hopeful and part-owner of the Tyler Boxing Gym on Troup Highway, believes in the character that supervised sports impart to young people.
Staff Photo by Mark Roberts
POTENTIAL: Aaron Todd leads children in after-school singing at the Community Center of the Salvation Army on Thursday. The After-School Program currently serves only the families of “residents” at the Salvation Army Lodge, and numbers fluctuate regularly. “We’ve had the elements of a community youth program for years,” Capt. John Falin, commander of the Tyler Corps of the Salvation Army, said. “We want to expand the program to children whose parents are not residents. We want to fill up the field and buildings. Education, physical activity, good positive encouraging fellowship, throw faith into the mix and we have a person ready to lead Tyler in the decades to come.”
“I wouldn’t be the man I am today, if it weren’t for boxing,” Todd said, who was consistently ranked in the top 10 amateur boxers in America in his fighting days. At Olympic trials for the Sydney Olympic Games, Todd lost his last fight in a close match with an eventual medal winner at those games.
But he hasn’t stopped fighting the “good fight.”
After arts and crafts, Todd leads the small group in song. A former student of guitar master Frank Kimliko, Todd is an accomplished Flamenco guitar player, performing regularly with the Del Alma Guitar Duo.
He also is fluent in Spanish, holding a degree in Spanish from The University of Texas at Tyler. Todd is a big dreamer with the know-how to make dreams come true. He is the type of qualified practical visionary Falin wants to see staff the Summer Youth Program.
“We want to do everything to ensure children get education, nurturing and claim the best future possible. What we need is staff,” Falin said.
INFRASTRUCTURE
That takes funding, and funding is hard to come by, said Falin.
That takes funding, and funding is hard to come by, said Falin.
“The infrastructure is in place,” he said. “We have the buildings, the room, the academic and physical elements for up to 40 children on a continuing basis. We have the heart, spirit and know-how to reach the community. What we really need is funding. We could be doing so much more.”
Todd took the Tyler Morning Telegraph on a tour of the large, clean and empty rooms which he envisions full of children doing computer labs, study and creative arts. He stepped outside to a large field by the Community Center that the Salvation Army owns.
“If we leveled this off and fenced it in for safety, this could be two large soccer fields for kids to play in,” said Todd. “All we need is the money to do it.”
Standing in the warm breeze under a pastoral puffy-white set of clouds vividly outlined in a blue sky, Todd appeared to be imagining how sweet it would be to see the field full of kids, playing their hearts out.
“Build it and they will come,” he finally said quietly. “They will come,” he said again, turning to the empty field. “This really is a field of dreams.”
These practical dreamers at the Salvation Army will be helped to make the dream come true by a family of musicians who have made children a priority. Jim and Dee Patton, who are Platinum record winners from their children’s songs, will perform their rock-opera “The Selfish Giant” at the Salvation Army on Saturday evening, May 10.
The “Giant” idea was taken from the classic Oscar Wilde story and put to an hourlong musical tale of warm-hearted children bringing the sunshine of the souls to a selfish giant’s garden, perpetually encased in winter.
CHILDLIKE
“There is something in the childlike heart that resonates with the heart of God,” Mrs. Patton told the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
“There is something in the childlike heart that resonates with the heart of God,” Mrs. Patton told the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
“Jesus said if we don’t become as children, we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven, so not only do we want to sing for them, we want to become like them.”
That was the inspiration for “The Selfish Giant,” Jim Patton said. It was an idea he’d wanted to work on for a long time.
“Many years, in fact,” he said. “It’s just such a story worth telling for people of all ages. We started working and recording The Selfish Giant about three years ago. It’s been a labor of love.”
The project was completed in 2007. The Pattons will be joined by their grown daughters, Brie and Elfin, and, under the stage name “Bongo and the Point,” will donate a performance of The Selfish Giant. Admission is $5 and a can of food. All proceeds go to the Salvation Army.
Falin said, “We wanted to make this as affordable as we could so everyone could attend. The concert is a way to draw attention to the plight of our children. Our hope is that sponsors will take the opportunity to fund the Summer Youth Program throughout May by sending donations to Tyler’s Summer Youth Program Fund.”
After the concert, copies of the double-album length “The Selfish Giant” will be available for a financial donation of any size to the Salvation Army Summer Youth Program while supplies last. Todd will perform two compositions on classical guitar, and Rabbi Neal Katz of People Attempting to Help will open the evening with prayer and three of his original compositions. The PATH CD “Rise Up,” a compilation CD of areawide folk musicians, will be made available on the same donation basis as The Selfish Giant.”
“At PATH, we always look for ways to partner with local agencies doing outstanding work with the community.”
The Army’s efforts reflect Tyler, said Falin.
“The Salvation Army is just a conduit, a reflection of the community itself,” said Falin. “If the community feels this is an issue, then the community will support the program and we’ll help them do that.”
“The Salvation Army is just a conduit, a reflection of the community itself,” said Falin. “If the community feels this is an issue, then the community will support the program and we’ll help them do that.”
Standing in “field of dreams, Todd said, “I grew up in East Texas. I believe in the goodness of this community. There are a lot of good people here. I think we’ll be funded.”
Looking over the field, he said, “I believe.”
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